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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: shower · lash · degree · file · pit · land · bat · race

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. shower — to wash
  3. land — ground
  4. race — humankind
  5. degree — temperature
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. file — a document
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. race — the arms race
  11. degree — from a university
  12. race — a contest
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. file — a tool
  16. degree — an amount
  17. pit — a hole
  18. land — a country
  19. pit — in a race
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. land — to come down
  22. bat — the animal
  23. shower — rain
  24. file — a line of people

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