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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: deal · degree · chest · ruler · shower · content · mate · perch

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. content — happy
  3. deal — to handle
  4. mate — to breed
  5. perch — the fish
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. degree — an amount
  8. chest — of your body
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — from a university
  11. shower — to wash
  12. mate — a partner
  13. degree — temperature
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. content — the amount
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. chest — of your body
  20. shower — rain
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. mate — a friend
  24. chest — a box

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