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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 116 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: degree · content · sharp · band · net · pass · mate · cold

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. sharp — clever
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — an illness
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pass — a permit
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. net — for catching
  11. band — a music group
  12. net — after costs
  13. mate — a friend
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. mate — a partner
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mate — to breed
  19. content — the amount
  20. band — a ring
  21. degree — temperature
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. degree — an amount
  24. content — happy

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