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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 120 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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. net — in sport
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. file — a line of people
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. tear — from crying
  7. file — a document
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. wake — a trail
  10. net — after costs
  11. bass — the fish
  12. bound — certain
  13. bass — low music
  14. tear — to rip
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — an amount
  17. net — for catching
  18. kick — in football
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. bound — obliged
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bound — tied together
  23. file — a tool
  24. degree — from a university

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