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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 my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. spring — of water
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. content — happy
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. spring — a coil
  9. bass — low music
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. content — the amount
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. clip — a video
  16. bass — the fish
  17. degree — an amount
  18. track — a song
  19. track — a path
  20. spring — the season
  21. clip — to cut
  22. track — to keep track
  23. chair — a leader
  24. degree — from a university

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