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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. cue — a hint
  3. net — after costs
  4. cue — for pool
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. net — for catching
  7. tear — from crying
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cue — a signal
  10. cell — in biology
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cell — a phone
  13. tear — to rip
  14. net — in sport
  15. tear — from crying
  16. degree — from a university
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — of water

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