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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. branch — a division
  5. hand — help
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. degree — temperature
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. degree — an amount
  10. degree — from a university
  11. hand — in cards
  12. bulb — for light
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. spring — of water
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. spring — a coil
  18. content — happy
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. spring — the season
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a line

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