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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. chest — of your body
  3. spring — of water
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. spring — a coil
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. chest — a box
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. club — for golf
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. club — for dancing
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. degree — temperature
  19. club — a group
  20. degree — an amount
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. spring — the season
  24. date — the fruit

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