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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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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: degree · wound · spring · plane · bass · leaves · field · wake

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. bass — low music
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. spring — the season
  6. bass — the fish
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. field — a subject
  11. degree — an amount
  12. spring — a coil
  13. field — for sport
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. wound — an injury
  16. field — farmland
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. plane — a tool
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. degree — from a university
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. spring — of water
  24. wake — a trail

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