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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. bass — low music
  3. mate — a partner
  4. last — finally
  5. chip — to eat
  6. scale — in music
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. kick — in football
  10. chip — for betting
  11. mate — a friend
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — rain
  14. last — final
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. mate — to breed
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. scale — size or range
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. last — to go on

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