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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. chest — a box
  4. bound — tied together
  5. bass — low music
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. foot — a measure
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. shower — rain
  11. degree — an amount
  12. chest — of your body
  13. degree — from a university
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bound — certain
  16. bat — the animal
  17. degree — temperature
  18. mark — a grade
  19. mark — a trace
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bass — the fish
  23. shower — to wash
  24. chest — of your body

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