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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. stock — goods
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. tube — a container
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. spring — the season
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. degree — temperature
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. mine — for digging
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. chair — a leader
  17. degree — from a university
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. deal — to handle
  20. tube — the underground
  21. degree — an amount
  22. stock — shares
  23. spring — of water
  24. chair — to sit on

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