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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. key — for a lock
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. bass — low music
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. mine — for digging
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. shower — to wash
  15. key — in music
  16. firm — decided
  17. degree — temperature
  18. firm — steady
  19. degree — from a university
  20. game — a match
  21. key — the most important part
  22. perch — the fish
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. firm — a company

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