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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  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. content — the amount
  2. spring — the season
  3. race — humankind
  4. race — the arms race
  5. degree — an amount
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. content — happy
  9. cell — a phone
  10. swing — music
  11. cell — in biology
  12. present — there
  13. spring — of water
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. swing — to play on
  18. present — a gift
  19. race — a contest
  20. degree — temperature
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. present — the time now
  23. swing — in golf
  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