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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. saw — the tool
  3. rock — music
  4. bat — the animal
  5. ball — a dance
  6. content — the amount
  7. bass — the fish
  8. bark — to shout
  9. ball — a great time
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. content — happy
  13. bass — low music
  14. scale — size or range
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. saw — the tool
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. rock — a stone
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. scale — in music
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bat — for baseball

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