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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: degree · shower · drill · nail · prune · craft · sharp · land

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. prune — to trim
  3. shower — to wash
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. degree — an amount
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. shower — rain
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — the tool
  12. craft — boats
  13. craft — a skill
  14. land — a country
  15. sharp — clever
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. degree — temperature
  18. land — ground
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. drill — a practice
  21. prune — to trim
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. land — to come down
  24. nail — for a hammer

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