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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 · tear · clip · deal · degree · press

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bass — the fish
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. deal — to handle
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — a video
  11. press — to push
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. press — a publisher
  14. bass — low music
  15. degree — temperature
  16. press — newspapers
  17. tear — to rip
  18. tear — from crying

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