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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 120 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: object · stem · bound · bat · lie · degree · last · bass

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bass — low music
  3. last — finally
  4. bat — the animal
  5. lie — to recline
  6. last — to go on
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. stem — to come from
  10. bass — the fish
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. last — final
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. object — to protest
  17. object — an aim
  18. bound — obliged
  19. bound — tied together
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bound — certain
  23. object — a thing
  24. bat — for baseball

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