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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. spring — the season
  4. sharp — clever
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. spring — of water
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. ball — a great time
  9. degree — temperature
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. degree — an amount
  13. scale — in music
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. cell — in biology
  19. degree — from a university
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cell — a phone
  22. content — happy
  23. ball — a dance
  24. scale — size or range

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