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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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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: shower · wind · wake · degree · chest · mine · safe · firm

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chest — a box
  3. wake — a trail
  4. firm — steady
  5. firm — decided
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wind — moving air
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. shower — rain
  14. wind — moving air
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. degree — from a university
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. mine — for digging
  20. degree — an amount
  21. chest — of your body
  22. firm — a company
  23. safe — a strongbox
  24. safe — out of danger

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