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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. hand — in cards
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — the season
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. drill — army training
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. degree — temperature
  10. drill — a practice
  11. stand — to bear
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — help
  15. drill — the tool
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air
  19. ball — a great time
  20. spring — a coil
  21. ball — a dance
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wind — moving air

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