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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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. bat — the animal
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. scale — in music
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. pound — a weight
  10. degree — temperature
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. scale — size or range
  13. spring — of water
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. spring — the season
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. degree — from a university
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. spring — a coil
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. degree — an amount

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