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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bass — the fish
  4. rock — music
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. content — the amount
  8. cold — an illness
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. content — happy
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. rock — a stone
  16. bass — low music
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. march — the month

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