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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 116 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. mug — to rob
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. bass — the fish
  6. degree — an amount
  7. mug — a cup
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mug — a face
  14. degree — temperature
  15. wake — a trail
  16. bass — low music
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. cold — not warm

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