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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. bass — the fish
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. bass — low music
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. shower — to wash
  8. swing — in golf
  9. branch — a division
  10. chest — of your body
  11. ball — a dance
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. ball — a great time
  16. swing — music
  17. shower — rain
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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