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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. spring — of water
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. degree — from a university
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. chest — a box
  8. spring — a coil
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bass — low music
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bass — the fish
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — to shout
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. spring — the season
  18. game — a match
  19. object — to protest
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. game — wild animals
  23. object — a thing
  24. degree — an amount

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