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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. row — to paddle
  5. field — for sport
  6. row — a line
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. race — a contest
  9. chest — of your body
  10. race — humankind
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. chest — of your body
  13. field — a subject
  14. race — the arms race
  15. kid — child
  16. pass — a permit
  17. kid — to tease
  18. chest — a box
  19. mine — for digging
  20. bass — low music
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. field — farmland
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. mine — belonging to me

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