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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: degree · content · wound · spring · bulb · swing · land · wake

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bulb — for light
  3. spring — the season
  4. content — happy
  5. degree — temperature
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. wound — an injury
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — an amount
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. bulb — for light
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. swing — music
  15. content — the amount
  16. land — to come down
  17. wake — a trail
  18. spring — of water
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. swing — to play on
  22. land — a country
  23. swing — in golf
  24. spring — a coil

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