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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. bass — low music
  4. rest — a break
  5. spring — a coil
  6. stock — goods
  7. rest — what's left
  8. spring — the season
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. spring — of water
  11. kid — child
  12. branch — a division
  13. rest — what's left
  14. stock — shares
  15. swing — to play on
  16. swing — music
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. kid — to tease
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. mine — for digging
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. swing — in golf
  24. bass — the instrument

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