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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 116 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. hand — help
  3. degree — from a university
  4. spring — the season
  5. bank — for money
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. snap — to click
  8. field — for sport
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. bank — of a river
  11. bound — obliged
  12. bound — certain
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. bound — tied together
  15. spring — of water
  16. field — farmland
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. pound — a weight
  20. degree — temperature
  21. hand — in cards
  22. field — a subject
  23. bank — for money
  24. degree — an 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