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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. can — a tin
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — an amount
  5. last — final
  6. last — to go on
  7. clip — to cut
  8. last — finally
  9. mate — a partner
  10. can — to be able to
  11. mate — to breed
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — in cards
  14. mate — a friend
  15. fine — all right
  16. clip — a video
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. fine — high quality
  19. clip — for paper
  20. degree — temperature
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bass — low music
  24. bass — the instrument

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