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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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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: hand · wave · current · shower · stick · degree · fine · ground

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — the earth
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. ground — crushed
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. hand — help
  7. current — of water
  8. shower — rain
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. fine — all right
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. hand — in cards
  14. degree — temperature
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. ground — a position
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. shower — to wash
  20. current — happening now
  21. fine — high quality
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. current — electric

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