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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: field · degree · spell · spring · club · hide · cold · stem

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spell — magic
  4. club — for dancing
  5. club — for golf
  6. spell — letters
  7. field — farmland
  8. spring — the season
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. degree — from a university
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. degree — an amount
  14. spring — of water
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. field — a subject
  17. spell — a short time
  18. cold — not warm
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. spring — a coil
  21. degree — temperature
  22. field — for sport
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. stem — to come from

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