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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 116 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. That must've been a ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. game — a match
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — wild animals
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. kid — child
  11. kid — to tease
  12. degree — an amount
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. mug — to rob
  15. degree — from a university
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — of water
  18. degree — temperature
  19. row — a line
  20. mug — a cup
  21. row — to paddle
  22. rush — hurry
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. mug — a face

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