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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 120 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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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: degree · bat · fine · wind · chip · spring · squash · pit

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. fine — high quality
  6. degree — from a university
  7. fine — all right
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. squash — the sport
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pit — a hole
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. pit — in a race
  17. degree — temperature
  18. chip — for betting
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. bat — the animal
  21. squash — to crush
  22. chip — to eat
  23. degree — an amount
  24. spring — the season

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