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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. bass — the fish
  4. field — for sport
  5. mate — a partner
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mate — to breed
  8. fall — the season
  9. field — a subject
  10. ball — a great time
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. degree — an amount
  13. pitch — completely
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. fall — to drop
  16. tear — from crying
  17. field — farmland
  18. tear — from crying
  19. fall — to drop
  20. degree — from a university
  21. tear — to rip
  22. ball — a dance
  23. mate — a friend
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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