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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: rest · mine · arm · degree · spring · pitcher · coach · clip

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. spring — the season
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. rest — a break
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. mine — for digging
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — for paper
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. spring — of water
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. rest — what's left
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. clip — a video
  22. degree — temperature
  23. spring — a coil
  24. arm — a part of something

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