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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. ball — a great time
  3. spring — a coil
  4. degree — from a university
  5. spring — of water
  6. ball — a dance
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. saw — the tool
  11. saw — the tool
  12. last — finally
  13. last — final
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. spring — the season
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. last — to go on
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pound — a weight
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. degree — an amount
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pound — for dogs

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