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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  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 — of water
  2. cap — a hat
  3. spring — a coil
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cap — a lid
  7. net — for catching
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spring — the season
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. pit — in a race
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. net — after costs
  15. pit — a hole
  16. degree — from a university
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. net — in sport
  19. kid — child
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. cap — of ice
  22. wind — moving air
  23. mine — for digging
  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