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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. bound — obliged
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bound — tied together
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. row — a line
  10. bound — certain
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bass — low music
  13. bat — the animal
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. bass — the fish
  17. row — to paddle
  18. bat — in an idiom

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