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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 120 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. degree — from a university
  4. spring — the season
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. spring — a coil
  7. key — in music
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. game — wild animals
  10. chair — a leader
  11. game — a match
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bat — the animal
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. key — for a lock
  16. key — the most important part
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. degree — an amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. spring — of water
  24. bat — for baseball

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