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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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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. content — happy
  4. bass — the fish
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. content — the amount
  9. bass — low music
  10. prune — to trim
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. degree — an amount
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. degree — from a university

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