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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: key · toast · drill · kid · coach · roll · degree · shower

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. drill — a practice
  3. shower — to wash
  4. key — for a lock
  5. kid — child
  6. key — the most important part
  7. roll — a cake
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. toast — bread
  11. drill — the tool
  12. degree — temperature
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. drill — army training
  15. degree — an amount
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. roll — a list
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. degree — from a university
  20. key — in music
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. kid — to tease
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. shower — rain

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