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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 coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. tear — from crying
  3. spring — of water
  4. march — the month
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. spring — the season
  9. drill — army training
  10. bulb — for light
  11. swing — music
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bulb — for light
  14. spring — a coil
  15. swing — to play on
  16. drill — the tool
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. tear — to rip
  21. drill — a practice
  22. degree — temperature
  23. tear — from crying
  24. bat — for baseball

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