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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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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. degree — an amount
  3. net — for catching
  4. object — an aim
  5. spring — of water
  6. cell — a phone
  7. object — to protest
  8. drill — army training
  9. spring — a coil
  10. vault — a safe
  11. net — in sport
  12. drill — the tool
  13. drill — a practice
  14. object — a thing
  15. degree — from a university
  16. net — after costs
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. degree — temperature
  19. capital — a city
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. capital — money
  23. spring — the season
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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