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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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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. wound — an injury
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. kid — child
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — crushed
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. bass — low music
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. wound — an injury
  14. field — a subject
  15. ground — a position
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. field — farmland
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. kick — in football
  21. bat — the animal
  22. field — for sport
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. kick — with a leg

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