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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 120 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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. degree — an amount
  4. key — for a lock
  5. saw — the tool
  6. spring — the season
  7. tear — from crying
  8. key — in music
  9. saw — the tool
  10. land — a country
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. sharp — clever
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bass — the fish
  16. bass — low music
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. degree — temperature
  20. key — the most important part
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. degree — from a university

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