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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. degree — an amount
  3. spring — a coil
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. swing — in golf
  14. spring — the season
  15. pop — music
  16. pop — to visit
  17. foot — a measure
  18. pop — soda
  19. degree — temperature
  20. swing — to play on
  21. spring — of water
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. swing — music

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