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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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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: club · rule · kid · bass · degree · wind · saw · capital

  1. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. wind — moving air
  7. club — a group
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. degree — an amount
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. kid — child
  13. rule — a law
  14. rule — government
  15. club — for dancing
  16. degree — temperature
  17. bass — the fish
  18. wind — moving air
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bass — low music
  21. kid — to tease
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — money
  24. club — for golf

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