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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 120 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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. spring — the season
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. degree — temperature
  6. clip — for paper
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. degree — from a university
  9. spring — of water
  10. spring — a coil
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. clip — to cut
  13. chip — to eat
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. chip — for betting
  16. band — a ring
  17. band — a music group
  18. spell — a short time
  19. degree — an amount
  20. mine — for digging
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. spell — letters
  23. spell — magic
  24. clip — a video

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