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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. spring — the season
  3. chest — of your body
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. spring — of water
  6. bass — the fish
  7. tube — a container
  8. race — humankind
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. chest — of your body
  11. race — a contest
  12. chest — a box
  13. bank — for money
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bank — for money
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. bank — of a river
  19. race — the arms race
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. spring — a coil
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. tube — the underground
  24. bat — the animal

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