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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. ground — a position
  3. degree — temperature
  4. chest — of your body
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. ground — crushed
  8. degree — from a university
  9. perch — the fish
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. mate — a friend
  12. rock — a stone
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. mate — to breed
  15. chest — a box
  16. mine — for digging
  17. ground — the earth
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. rock — music
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bass — low music
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mate — a partner
  24. degree — an 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