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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 116 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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. degree — temperature
  3. bass — the fish
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. wind — moving air
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. shower — rain
  11. sharp — clever
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. degree — an amount
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. wind — moving air
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. degree — from a university
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bass — low music
  21. tube — a container
  22. tube — the underground
  23. shower — to wash
  24. wind — to turn a key

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