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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.

Make a worksheet

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: straw · racket · cell · bark · spring · mine · rush · degree

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. spring — a coil
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bark — to shout
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. rush — hurry
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cell — in biology
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. degree — temperature
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. degree — from a university
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. degree — an amount
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. spring — the season
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. mine — for digging
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. spring — of water

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