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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. bass — the fish
  4. row — to paddle
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. wake — a trail
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. row — a line
  11. field — farmland
  12. bass — low music
  13. bat — the animal
  14. mine — for digging
  15. prune — to trim
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. chest — of your body
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. field — for sport
  21. field — a subject
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. chest — a box
  24. wake — before a funeral

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