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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. spring — the season
  3. bat — the animal
  4. board — a committee
  5. board — to get on
  6. staff — a stick
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — an amount
  12. spring — of water
  13. spring — a coil
  14. staff — employees
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. staff — employees
  18. degree — temperature
  19. prune — to trim
  20. snap — to click
  21. prune — to trim
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. prune — the fruit

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