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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 · chip · arm · mate · content · court · degree · hide

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. chip — for betting
  6. court — of a king
  7. mate — to breed
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. spring — a coil
  10. mate — a partner
  11. chip — to eat
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. degree — temperature
  15. court — for sport
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. spring — of water
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. content — the amount
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. mate — a friend
  22. spring — the season
  23. content — happy
  24. court — of law

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