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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — in cards
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. spring — of water
  5. degree — temperature
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bass — low music
  12. cue — for pool
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. cue — a hint
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — an amount
  19. cue — a signal
  20. spring — the season
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bass — the fish
  24. spring — a coil

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