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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: chair · bass · cold · snap · dip · drill · object · degree

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. snap — to click
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. object — a thing
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. object — to protest
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. object — an aim
  11. cold — not warm
  12. drill — army training
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. degree — temperature
  16. dip — to sink
  17. bass — low music
  18. cold — an illness
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. drill — a practice
  21. drill — the tool
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. chair — a leader
  24. bass — the instrument

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