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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. rule — government
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. content — happy
  10. spring — of water
  11. rush — hurry
  12. net — in sport
  13. content — the amount
  14. spring — the season
  15. net — after costs
  16. degree — from a university
  17. spring — a coil
  18. net — for catching
  19. band — a ring
  20. degree — temperature
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. band — a music group
  24. rule — a law

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