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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. band — a music group
  3. spring — of water
  4. degree — temperature
  5. root — of a word
  6. degree — an amount
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. root — of a plant
  9. fine — high quality
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. march — music
  12. root — the cause
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. degree — from a university
  15. band — a ring
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spring — the season
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fine — all right
  22. march — the month
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. march — the month

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