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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 120 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bass — low music
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. net — in sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. clip — for paper
  10. net — for catching
  11. wax — to grow
  12. plane — a tool
  13. net — after costs
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. vault — a safe
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. degree — from a university
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. clip — a video
  21. bass — the fish
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wax — in the ear

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