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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. degree — temperature
  7. bass — the fish
  8. kid — to tease
  9. net — after costs
  10. deal — to handle
  11. bass — low music
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. spell — a short time
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. hand — in cards
  17. kid — child
  18. net — for catching
  19. spell — magic
  20. spell — letters
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. branch — a division
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. net — in sport

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