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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — the earth
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. ground — a position
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. ground — crushed
  10. bass — the fish
  11. degree — from a university
  12. wind — moving air
  13. shower — rain
  14. kid — to tease
  15. clip — for paper
  16. wind — moving air
  17. clip — to cut
  18. degree — temperature
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. kid — child
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bass — low music
  24. clip — a video

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