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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: bat · row · shower · degree · face · spell · ground · staff

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. degree — an amount
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. ground — a position
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — part of the head
  7. ground — crushed
  8. shower — rain
  9. spell — letters
  10. spell — magic
  11. staff — a stick
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. staff — employees
  14. row — to paddle
  15. bat — the animal
  16. face — to point toward
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. spell — a short time
  19. staff — employees
  20. degree — from a university
  21. shower — to wash
  22. ground — the earth
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bat — in an idiom

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