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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. clip — for paper
  3. spring — of water
  4. drill — the tool
  5. bulb — for light
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. net — in sport
  8. track — to keep track
  9. net — for catching
  10. drill — army training
  11. drill — a practice
  12. bulb — for light
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. clip — to cut
  15. track — a song
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — the season
  19. net — after costs
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. track — a path
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  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