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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. wound — an injury
  5. last — final
  6. scale — size or range
  7. fork — in a road
  8. degree — from a university
  9. stem — to come from
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. last — to go on
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. scale — in music
  15. degree — temperature
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bass — low music
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. degree — an amount
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. bass — the fish
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. last — finally

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