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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.

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: content · wound · degree · game · rest · spring · hand · pitch

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. content — the amount
  3. pitch — completely
  4. wound — an injury
  5. rest — a break
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — help
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — of water
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. degree — temperature
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. spring — the season
  16. wound — an injury
  17. content — happy
  18. degree — from a university
  19. game — a match
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. rest — what's left
  23. degree — an amount
  24. game — wild animals

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