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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. bat — the animal
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chip — to eat
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. land — to come down
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. net — after costs
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the fish
  13. net — in sport
  14. land — a country
  15. chip — for betting
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. content — happy
  18. wax — to grow
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. land — ground
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. content — the amount

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