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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. degree — an amount
  3. key — the most important part
  4. bass — the fish
  5. bass — low music
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — to wash
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. press — to push
  10. degree — temperature
  11. press — newspapers
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. season — in sport
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. degree — from a university
  18. press — a publisher
  19. season — of the year
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. key — for a lock
  22. key — in music
  23. perch — the fish
  24. kid — to tease

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