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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 120 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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. ball — a dance
  3. degree — from a university
  4. net — after costs
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. degree — an amount
  7. rash — a series
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. scale — in music
  10. net — in sport
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. mine — for digging
  13. sharp — clever
  14. net — for catching
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. rock — music
  20. rock — a stone
  21. degree — temperature
  22. scale — size or range
  23. rash — hasty
  24. sharp — with an edge

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