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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: last · degree · mark · spring · wave · hand · hide · straw

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. spring — a coil
  3. hand — help
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. spring — the season
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. spring — of water
  10. degree — from a university
  11. hand — in cards
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. degree — temperature
  14. mark — a trace
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. degree — an amount
  19. last — finally
  20. last — to go on
  21. mark — a grade
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. wave — of the sea

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