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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. land — ground
  3. file — a line of people
  4. bass — the fish
  5. shower — rain
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. file — a document
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. shower — to wash
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — an injury
  14. file — a tool
  15. lie — to recline
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. land — to come down
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. land — a country
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. snap — to click
  24. bass — the instrument

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