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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. mate — a partner
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. vault — a safe
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. mate — to breed
  11. rush — hurry
  12. mate — a friend
  13. bass — low music
  14. bass — the fish
  15. degree — temperature
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. cold — an illness
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. degree — from a university
  24. cold — the Cold War

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