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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 120 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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Word bank
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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: object · shower · land · degree · stock · rash · pitcher · spring

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. land — a country
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. spring — a coil
  6. object — an aim
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — the season
  9. degree — temperature
  10. rash — hasty
  11. stock — shares
  12. degree — from a university
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. land — to come down
  15. rash — a series
  16. shower — to wash
  17. land — ground
  18. stock — goods
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. degree — an amount
  21. shower — rain
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. object — a thing
  24. pitcher — a jug

Multiple-meaning words list

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

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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