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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. snap — to click
  4. face — to point toward
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. bass — the fish
  7. drill — a practice
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. degree — temperature
  10. face — to confront
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. drill — the tool
  13. season — in sport
  14. bat — the animal
  15. drill — army training
  16. face — part of the head
  17. degree — from a university
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. season — of the year
  23. dip — to sink
  24. degree — an amount

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