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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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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: shower · bat · patient · stem · degree · wave · perch · sharp

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. shower — rain
  4. perch — the fish
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — to wash
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — temperature
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. bat — the animal
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. stem — to come from
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. degree — from a university
  23. sharp — clever
  24. sharp — exactly

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