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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chest — a box
  4. rash — hasty
  5. fall — to drop
  6. rash — a series
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. bass — the fish
  10. rush — hurry
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — temperature
  13. fall — to drop
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bass — low music
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. date — the fruit
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. fall — the season
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. rush — a thrill

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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