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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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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: cell · mate · spring · degree · swing · content

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. spring — of water
  8. mate — to breed
  9. cell — in biology
  10. swing — music
  11. content — the amount
  12. swing — in golf
  13. mate — a partner
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. mate — a friend
  17. swing — to play on
  18. content — happy

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