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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. row — a line
  6. content — happy
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bass — the fish
  9. sharp — clever
  10. race — the arms race
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. race — humankind
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. season — of the year
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. race — a contest
  17. content — the amount
  18. scale — size or range
  19. season — in sport
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. bass — low music
  22. row — to paddle
  23. scale — in music
  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