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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: kid · drill · bass · last · rock · mine · cell · degree

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. last — to go on
  4. bass — the fish
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. bass — low music
  7. rock — music
  8. drill — a practice
  9. rock — a stone
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. degree — temperature
  13. drill — army training
  14. last — finally
  15. degree — from a university
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. drill — the tool
  20. kid — to tease
  21. cell — in biology
  22. cell — a phone
  23. degree — an amount
  24. kid — child

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