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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: lean · track · chest · bass · snap · squash · clip · degree

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. bass — the fish
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — for paper
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. chest — of your body
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. bass — low music
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. snap — to click
  13. squash — the sport
  14. track — a path
  15. degree — from a university
  16. clip — to cut
  17. chest — a box
  18. degree — temperature
  19. track — a song
  20. track — to keep track
  21. squash — to crush
  22. lean — thin
  23. clip — a video
  24. chest — of your body

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