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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: hide · cell · club · degree · straw · spring

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. cell — in biology
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. club — for golf
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. club — for dancing
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. club — a group
  10. degree — an amount
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — a coil
  13. cell — a phone
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. spring — of water
  18. cell — in a prison

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