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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pop — to visit
  3. stem — to come from
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wax — to grow
  6. court — of a king
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. spring — a coil
  9. pop — soda
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pop — music
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. degree — from a university
  19. court — for sport
  20. court — of law
  21. spring — of water
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. spring — the season
  24. wound — an injury

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