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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 120 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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. mark — a trace
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bass — the fish
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cold — not warm
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. mark — a grade
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. chair — to sit on

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