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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 fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bass — the fish
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. cold — not warm
  5. stock — shares
  6. staff — employees
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. stock — goods
  9. staff — employees
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — a subject
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. tube — the underground
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. staff — a stick
  17. cold — an illness
  18. tube — a container
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — for sport
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. racket — a loud noise

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