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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. bass — the fish
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. present — a gift
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. capital — money
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. present — the time now
  12. fall — to drop
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. capital — a city
  15. tube — the underground
  16. tube — a container
  17. present — there
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cold — not warm
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. fall — the season
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. pitcher — a jug

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