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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 120 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: spell · leaves · key · shower · bat · ground · degree · stem

  1. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. ground — the earth
  3. key — the most important part
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. ground — a position
  6. key — in music
  7. ground — crushed
  8. shower — to wash
  9. key — for a lock
  10. spell — letters
  11. bat — the animal
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — an amount
  15. spell — a short time
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stem — to come from
  19. shower — rain
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. degree — temperature
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. spell — magic

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