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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. capital — a city
  3. bass — low music
  4. track — to keep track
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — in golf
  8. capital — money
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. sharp — clever
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. wax — to grow
  14. bass — the fish
  15. track — a song
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. track — a path
  21. shower — rain
  22. scale — in music
  23. swing — music
  24. wax — for sculpting

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