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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bass — low music
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — to paddle
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. track — to keep track
  7. bass — the fish
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. net — in sport
  12. net — for catching
  13. bark — to shout
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. wound — an injury
  16. track — a song
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. track — a path
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. row — a line
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. degree — from a university

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