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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 116 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: court · pop · spring · stock · degree · nail · straw · coach

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. pop — music
  5. spring — of water
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — from a university
  8. spring — a coil
  9. court — for sport
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. court — of law
  14. pop — soda
  15. spring — the season
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. court — of a king
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. degree — an amount
  24. stock — goods

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