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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — an amount
  7. mark — a trace
  8. bear — the animal
  9. spring — the season
  10. degree — temperature
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of law
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bear — the animal
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. mark — a grade
  19. wound — an injury
  20. court — of a king
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wind — moving air
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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