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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. degree — an amount
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. spring — of water
  5. content — happy
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — temperature
  8. capital — money
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. spring — the season
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. press — newspapers
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. press — to push
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. craft — boats
  21. craft — a skill
  22. spring — a coil
  23. press — a publisher
  24. capital — a city

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