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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: degree · bass · foot · dip · tear · cold · net · march

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. degree — an amount
  3. tear — to rip
  4. march — the month
  5. foot — a measure
  6. march — the month
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. net — in sport
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — not warm
  13. dip — to sink
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. march — music
  16. bass — the fish
  17. net — for catching
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bass — low music
  20. net — after costs
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. degree — from a university
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. degree — temperature

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