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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. degree — temperature
  7. spring — of water
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. prune — to trim
  10. court — of law
  11. court — for sport
  12. wind — moving air
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. wind — moving air
  16. spring — a coil
  17. prune — to trim
  18. deal — to handle
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. court — of a king
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. spring — the season

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