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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: spring · degree · ground · race · pit · bass · chair · calf

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. ground — crushed
  3. race — a contest
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. chair — a leader
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bass — low music
  9. race — the arms race
  10. degree — an amount
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. spring — the season
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. degree — from a university
  16. spring — of water
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — a position
  19. pit — in a race
  20. pit — a hole
  21. spring — a coil
  22. degree — temperature
  23. race — humankind
  24. calf — of the leg

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