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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  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. cold — the Cold War
  2. snap — to click
  3. bass — low music
  4. scale — in music
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. squash — the sport
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. root — of a plant
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ball — a dance
  11. root — of a word
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. bass — the fish
  14. cold — not warm
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. squash — to crush
  17. degree — an amount
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. scale — size or range
  21. ball — a great time
  22. degree — temperature
  23. root — the cause
  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