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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. scale — in music
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a match
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. spring — the season
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. pit — a hole
  9. pit — in a race
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. bass — low music
  12. wound — an injury
  13. scale — size or range
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. spring — of water
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. clip — for paper
  23. craft — boats
  24. craft — a skill

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