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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. bass — the fish
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in biology
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. vault — a safe
  13. bass — low music
  14. saw — the tool
  15. toast — bread
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. mine — for digging
  18. saw — the tool
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. degree — temperature
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. mine — belonging to me

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