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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. wound — an injury
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. wound — an injury
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. mine — for digging
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bass — low music
  15. cell — a phone
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. stem — to come from
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. cell — in biology
  24. bass — the fish

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