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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: spring · object · court · degree · racket · hide · straw · file

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. court — of a king
  4. spring — the season
  5. degree — an amount
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. file — a tool
  9. object — to protest
  10. spring — a coil
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. file — a line of people
  15. degree — from a university
  16. court — of law
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. degree — temperature
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. court — for sport
  22. file — a document
  23. object — a thing
  24. object — an aim

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