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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 · bat · spring · club · rule · band · degree · spell

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. shower — to wash
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. rule — a law
  6. club — for dancing
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. degree — temperature
  10. shower — rain
  11. club — for golf
  12. band — a music group
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spell — letters
  15. degree — an amount
  16. rule — government
  17. spell — magic
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — the season
  20. degree — from a university
  21. club — a group
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. spell — a short time
  24. band — a ring

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