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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bass — the fish
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bass — low music
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bark — to shout
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. fall — the season
  14. fall — to drop
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. wound — an injury
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. bark — a dog's sound

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