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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 116 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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. spell — letters
  3. hand — help
  4. hand — in cards
  5. degree — an amount
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. spell — magic
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. degree — from a university
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. bass — the fish
  13. degree — temperature
  14. fine — high quality
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. bass — low music
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. spell — a short time
  24. trunk — of a car

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