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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. mine — for digging
  3. ground — a position
  4. suit — clothes
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. ground — crushed
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. spring — the season
  11. suit — to fit
  12. suit — in cards
  13. spring — a coil
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. ground — the earth
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. degree — from a university
  19. spring — of water
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. field — a subject
  22. degree — an amount
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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