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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  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. board — a flat piece
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. degree — an amount
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. bass — the fish
  7. degree — temperature
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wound — an injury
  10. file — a tool
  11. board — a committee
  12. file — a line of people
  13. file — a document
  14. stand — to bear
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bass — low music
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. chest — a box
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. chest — of your body
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. board — to get on
  23. kick — in football
  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