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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. degree — temperature
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wound — an injury
  6. degree — from a university
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. wound — an injury
  9. spring — of water
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. spring — a coil
  14. content — happy
  15. toast — bread
  16. ball — a dance
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — for sport
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. ball — a great time
  24. content — the amount

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