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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. mark — a trace
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. cold — not warm
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bass — low music
  7. land — ground
  8. bass — the fish
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. land — a country
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. swing — in golf
  14. swing — music
  15. prune — to trim
  16. swing — to play on
  17. mark — a grade
  18. land — to come down
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mine — for digging

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