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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. degree — temperature
  3. rash — a series
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. spring — a coil
  7. charge — a price
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bat — the animal
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. charge — electricity
  13. charge — in control
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — of water
  18. degree — from a university

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