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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 116 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: hand · degree · ground · plane · bass · season · wound · tube

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — of the year
  4. wound — an injury
  5. tube — a container
  6. degree — from a university
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. hand — help
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. bass — the fish
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. ground — the earth
  13. plane — a tool
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. hand — in cards
  16. ground — a position
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wound — an injury
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bass — low music
  21. degree — an amount
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. ground — crushed

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