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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — temperature
  5. spring — a coil
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. wake — a trail
  8. bound — certain
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. fork — in a road
  11. chest — of your body
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. bound — obliged
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — of water
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. bound — tied together
  21. plane — a tool
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chest — a box
  24. snap — to click

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