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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. pop — soda
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bore — to drill
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pop — music
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. degree — temperature
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wind — moving air
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. spring — of water
  15. pop — to visit
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. spring — a coil
  18. degree — from a university
  19. season — of the year
  20. bore — to tire
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. season — in sport
  23. degree — an amount
  24. sharp — clever

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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