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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. ground — the earth
  3. degree — an amount
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. spring — a coil
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. ground — a position
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. wake — a trail
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. ground — crushed
  14. mark — a grade
  15. spring — the season
  16. branch — a division
  17. degree — from a university
  18. band — a ring
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. band — a music group
  21. spring — of water
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. degree — temperature
  24. mark — a trace

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