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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — the earth
  3. ground — a position
  4. staff — employees
  5. bat — the animal
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. prune — to trim
  9. rash — hasty
  10. staff — employees
  11. prune — to trim
  12. scale — in music
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — the season
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — from a university
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. rash — a series
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. staff — a stick
  22. scale — size or range
  23. spring — a coil
  24. ground — crushed

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