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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: degree · cold · wind · arm · bulb · face · shower · rash

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bulb — for light
  5. degree — from a university
  6. face — to point toward
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. rash — a series
  10. cold — not warm
  11. face — part of the head
  12. shower — rain
  13. rash — hasty
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cold — an illness
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. degree — temperature
  18. degree — an amount
  19. face — to confront
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. bulb — for light
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. cold — the Cold War

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