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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pop — soda
  4. cold — not warm
  5. court — of a king
  6. bass — low music
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. bass — the fish
  12. pop — to visit
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. court — for sport
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. season — in sport
  19. season — of the year
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. bark — to shout
  22. court — of law
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. shower — rain

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