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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — a subject
  5. bass — low music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bank — of a river
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. degree — from a university
  11. net — in sport
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. degree — an amount
  19. net — after costs
  20. bank — for money
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bank — for money
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. net — for catching

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