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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bass · shower · drill · chair · race · degree

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. race — humankind
  4. drill — a practice
  5. race — a contest
  6. chair — a leader
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. drill — army training
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. degree — an amount
  12. shower — rain
  13. race — the arms race
  14. bass — low music
  15. drill — the tool
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. bass — the fish

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