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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: ground · season · content · dip · cell · band · degree · bat

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — the earth
  3. season — of the year
  4. degree — from a university
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. cell — in biology
  9. season — in sport
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bat — the animal
  13. ground — crushed
  14. dip — to sink
  15. band — a ring
  16. cell — a phone
  17. degree — temperature
  18. content — happy
  19. ground — a position
  20. band — a music group
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. content — the amount
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — for baseball

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