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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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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: bat · mate · bass · shower · degree · bear · file · racket

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. degree — an amount
  4. mate — a partner
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. file — a line of people
  8. file — a tool
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. shower — rain
  11. file — a document
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — temperature
  14. bass — the fish
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bear — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. shower — to wash
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. mate — to breed
  23. mate — a friend
  24. racket — for tennis

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