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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 124 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 fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bass — the fish
  3. stem — to come from
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. tear — from crying
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — from a university
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. lean — thin
  12. drill — the tool
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. hand — help
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. drill — army training
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. lean — to bend
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. drill — a practice
  24. hand — in cards

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