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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. land — a country
  3. bass — the fish
  4. land — to come down
  5. cap — a lid
  6. land — ground
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. degree — from a university
  9. pop — music
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mine — for digging
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cap — of ice
  15. net — after costs
  16. pop — soda
  17. pop — to visit
  18. degree — an amount
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bass — low music
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. net — in sport
  23. net — for catching
  24. cap — a hat

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