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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: mark · wake · saw · squash · roll · degree · shower · pit

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. degree — from a university
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. squash — the sport
  5. mark — a grade
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. saw — the tool
  8. pit — a hole
  9. shower — to wash
  10. pit — in a race
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — temperature
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. mark — a trace
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. roll — a list
  17. squash — to crush
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. shower — rain
  22. saw — the tool
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. wake — a trail

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