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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. wake — a trail
  3. rash — hasty
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. bass — low music
  6. squash — the sport
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bass — the fish
  11. rash — a series
  12. chair — a leader
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. craft — a skill
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. craft — boats
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. squash — to crush
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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