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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: spring · race · degree · current · swing · kid · wake · stem

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. spring — of water
  3. current — happening now
  4. stem — to come from
  5. degree — temperature
  6. kid — to tease
  7. spring — the season
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. current — electric
  10. degree — an amount
  11. kid — child
  12. swing — to play on
  13. race — the arms race
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. swing — in golf
  17. degree — from a university
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. current — of water
  20. swing — music
  21. spring — a coil
  22. race — humankind
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — before a funeral

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