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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. When will it ________________ you to start?
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. staff — employees
  3. spring — the season
  4. degree — an amount
  5. staff — employees
  6. spring — of water
  7. suit — to fit
  8. scale — size or range
  9. ground — a position
  10. degree — from a university
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wind — moving air
  14. suit — clothes
  15. ground — crushed
  16. staff — a stick
  17. wind — moving air
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — in music
  20. clip — to cut
  21. degree — temperature
  22. suit — in cards
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wind — to turn a key

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