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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bass — low music
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. charge — in control
  5. drill — a practice
  6. scale — in music
  7. hand — in cards
  8. charge — electricity
  9. safe — out of danger
  10. bass — the fish
  11. degree — from a university
  12. scale — size or range
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. hand — help
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. degree — temperature
  17. drill — army training
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — money
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. charge — a price
  24. drill — the tool

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