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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. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. court — for sport
  3. bore — to tire
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. bass — the fish
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. cold — not warm
  8. spell — magic
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. spell — a short time
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. dip — to sink
  15. spell — letters
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. court — of a king
  18. degree — temperature
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. degree — from a university
  21. bass — low music
  22. degree — an amount
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. court — of law

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