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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. snap — to click
  3. ball — a dance
  4. last — final
  5. mate — a partner
  6. bass — low music
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. degree — from a university
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. bat — the animal
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. mate — a friend
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. ball — a great time
  20. last — to go on
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bass — the fish
  23. last — finally
  24. mate — to breed

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