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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. spring — a coil
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bass — the fish
  8. chest — of your body
  9. degree — an amount
  10. spring — of water
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. chest — a box
  13. bear — the animal
  14. spring — the season
  15. stock — shares
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. stock — goods
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. chest — of your body
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bass — low music
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. bass — the instrument

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