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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. last — finally
  4. bass — the fish
  5. lie — to recline
  6. row — a line
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. row — to paddle
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. field — for sport
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. last — to go on
  16. deal — to handle
  17. last — final
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. field — farmland
  23. field — a subject
  24. dip — to sink

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