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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: game · wake · spring · content · club · ball · wound · degree

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. club — for golf
  4. content — the amount
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. degree — an amount
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — of water
  9. degree — temperature
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. degree — from a university
  12. spring — the season
  13. club — a group
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wake — a trail
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. game — a match
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. ball — a dance
  21. club — for dancing
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — happy
  24. ball — a great time

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