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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. net — for catching
  3. degree — temperature
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. deal — to handle
  6. net — in sport
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. content — happy
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. perch — the fish
  12. content — the amount
  13. net — after costs
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. kick — in football
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. pitch — completely
  23. wound — an injury
  24. content — videos and posts

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