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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — temperature
  4. spring — the season
  5. foot — a measure
  6. capital — a city
  7. chest — of your body
  8. capital — money
  9. spring — of water
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. spring — a coil
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. dip — to sink
  14. wake — a trail
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. perch — the fish
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. degree — an amount
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. wake — before a funeral

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