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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. toast — bread
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. shower — to wash
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. degree — from a university
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. content — the amount
  11. shower — rain
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. bass — the fish
  14. pit — in a race
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — happy
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. pit — a hole
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. squash — the sport
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. squash — to crush
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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