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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: mug · march · clip · kid · bass · degree · bay · chest

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. kid — to tease
  5. march — music
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. bass — low music
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. mug — a face
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. clip — a video
  12. bass — the fish
  13. mug — to rob
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. clip — to cut
  18. march — the month
  19. degree — from a university
  20. chest — of your body
  21. clip — for paper
  22. degree — temperature
  23. mug — a cup
  24. kid — child

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