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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: fall · straw · capital · rock · kick · rest · shower · degree

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. fall — to drop
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. degree — from a university
  5. rest — what's left
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. fall — to drop
  9. rest — what's left
  10. shower — rain
  11. rest — a break
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. degree — temperature
  14. capital — money
  15. shower — to wash
  16. kick — in football
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. degree — an amount
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. fall — the season
  22. rock — a stone
  23. rock — music
  24. straw — a straw man

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