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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: snap · degree · root · bat · content · nail · pop · spring

  1. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. pop — music
  7. content — happy
  8. spring — the season
  9. snap — to click
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pop — soda
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — an amount
  14. pop — to visit
  15. root — of a plant
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. degree — temperature
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. root — the cause
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. content — the amount

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