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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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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: bass · present · degree · content · cabinet · jam · hand · sharp

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. degree — from a university
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — there
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. sharp — clever
  9. hand — in cards
  10. degree — an amount
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bass — low music
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. present — a gift
  16. content — the amount
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. jam — in traffic

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