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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. shower — rain
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. bass — low music
  6. club — for golf
  7. bulb — for light
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. bass — the fish
  10. club — for dancing
  11. cold — an illness
  12. shower — to wash
  13. track — to keep track
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bulb — for light
  16. land — a country
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — ground
  21. fork — in a road
  22. track — a path
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. club — a group

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