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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: temple · shower · chest · trunk · bulb · degree · bat · file

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. shower — rain
  4. file — a tool
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. chest — of your body
  8. file — a line of people
  9. chest — of your body
  10. shower — to wash
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — from a university
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. file — a document
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. chest — a box
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bulb — of a plant

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