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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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Word bank
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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. season — in sport
  3. game — a match
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pop — soda
  7. pop — to visit
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pop — music
  11. bass — low music
  12. prune — to trim
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. bass — the fish
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. game — wild animals
  21. plane — a tool
  22. chair — a leader
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. season — of the year

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