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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: spring · degree · hand · deal · root · shower · court · stock

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — of water
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. court — for sport
  8. deal — to handle
  9. hand — help
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. spring — a coil
  12. stock — goods
  13. hand — in cards
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. degree — an amount
  16. court — of law
  17. stock — shares
  18. shower — rain
  19. root — of a word
  20. root — the cause
  21. degree — from a university
  22. shower — to wash
  23. court — of a king
  24. root — of a plant

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