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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. bark — to shout
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. shower — to wash
  7. chair — a leader
  8. cold — an illness
  9. shower — rain
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. stem — to come from
  14. bass — the fish
  15. cold — not warm
  16. tube — the underground
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. tube — a container
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. jam — to spread on bread
  24. chair — a professorship

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