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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. bark — to shout
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. race — humankind
  9. file — a tool
  10. race — the arms race
  11. can — a tin
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. tear — to rip
  17. file — a line of people
  18. bass — the fish
  19. race — a contest
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. file — a document
  22. can — to be able to
  23. bat — the animal
  24. can — a tin

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