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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. degree — an amount
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. bass — the fish
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — temperature
  9. fall — to drop
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. bass — low music
  13. rash — hasty
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. rash — a series
  16. game — a match
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. band — a music group
  19. fall — to drop
  20. prune — to trim
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. band — a ring
  23. prune — to trim
  24. game — wild animals

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