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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: stem · shower · trunk · degree · rest · pop · snap · racket

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. pop — music
  3. pop — soda
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. snap — to click
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. degree — from a university
  12. rest — what's left
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. shower — rain
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. rest — what's left
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. degree — an amount
  21. stem — to come from
  22. degree — temperature
  23. pop — to visit
  24. shower — to wash

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com