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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 · lean · shower · content · band · cell · cue · pitch

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cell — a phone
  6. pitch — completely
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cue — a signal
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cue — a hint
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. degree — an amount
  14. band — a music group
  15. shower — rain
  16. degree — temperature
  17. lean — to bend
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. lean — thin
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cue — for pool
  24. shower — to wash

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