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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. net — after costs
  4. degree — from a university
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. bark — to shout
  7. net — for catching
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. degree — an amount
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. mate — a friend
  14. mate — to breed
  15. mate — a partner
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. degree — temperature
  18. spring — the season
  19. wax — to grow
  20. lie — to recline
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. spring — a coil
  24. net — in sport

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