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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: season · present · spring · file · race · degree · game · bass

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. race — the arms race
  3. race — a contest
  4. file — a line of people
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. degree — from a university
  7. file — a document
  8. present — a gift
  9. race — humankind
  10. spring — the season
  11. game — wild animals
  12. present — there
  13. season — of the year
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. present — the time now
  17. bass — the fish
  18. bass — low music
  19. degree — an amount
  20. spring — a coil
  21. game — a match
  22. degree — temperature
  23. file — a tool
  24. spring — of water

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