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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — the season
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. degree — temperature
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. degree — an amount
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. rush — hurry
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. spring — a coil
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. bat — the animal
  23. wake — a trail
  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