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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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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. stock — shares
  3. face — to confront
  4. shower — to wash
  5. degree — temperature
  6. ground — crushed
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. bass — the fish
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. degree — an amount
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. bass — low music
  14. ball — a great time
  15. stock — goods
  16. ground — a position
  17. face — part of the head
  18. face — to point toward
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. ground — the earth
  21. ball — a dance
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. shower — rain
  24. pitcher — a jug

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