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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 116 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. root — of a plant
  3. field — for sport
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. clip — for paper
  7. field — farmland
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. clip — a video
  10. degree — from a university
  11. root — the cause
  12. land — to come down
  13. spring — of water
  14. root — of a word
  15. clip — to cut
  16. land — ground
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. spring — the season
  19. land — a country
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. field — a subject
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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