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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bass — low music
  3. degree — from a university
  4. track — to keep track
  5. kid — to tease
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. degree — temperature
  9. content — the amount
  10. bass — the fish
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. kid — child
  14. degree — an amount
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. track — a song
  18. object — to protest
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. track — a path
  21. deal — to handle
  22. object — a thing
  23. object — an aim
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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