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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.

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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 · mug · tube · shower · snap · straw · field · degree

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. field — farmland
  3. spring — of water
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. degree — from a university
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. degree — an amount
  9. field — for sport
  10. mug — to rob
  11. spring — the season
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. shower — rain
  15. mug — a face
  16. snap — to click
  17. tube — the underground
  18. mug — a cup
  19. spring — a coil
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. tube — a container
  22. field — a subject
  23. shower — to wash
  24. degree — temperature

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