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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 · perch · degree · cap · mate · straw · last · bat

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. bat — the animal
  3. degree — an amount
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. cap — a hat
  6. last — to go on
  7. cap — a lid
  8. last — final
  9. last — finally
  10. perch — the fish
  11. spring — of water
  12. degree — from a university
  13. mate — a friend
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. mate — a partner
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. mate — to breed
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. degree — temperature
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — the season
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. straw — a straw man

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