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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wound — an injury
  3. degree — from a university
  4. key — for a lock
  5. club — a group
  6. club — for dancing
  7. degree — temperature
  8. key — in music
  9. tube — a container
  10. craft — a skill
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. spring — of water
  13. craft — boats
  14. spring — the season
  15. wound — an injury
  16. spring — a coil
  17. tube — the underground
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. key — the most important part
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. stand — to bear
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. club — for golf

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