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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: degree · content · bat · march · band · chest · net · dip

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. chest — a box
  4. content — the amount
  5. band — a music group
  6. march — the month
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. net — after costs
  9. dip — to sink
  10. band — a ring
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. march — the month
  13. net — for catching
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. chest — of your body
  16. degree — temperature
  17. degree — from a university
  18. content — happy
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chest — of your body
  21. net — in sport
  22. march — music
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bat — the animal

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