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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 120 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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bat — the animal
  3. season — of the year
  4. bass — low music
  5. bark — to shout
  6. prune — to trim
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. rock — a stone
  9. game — wild animals
  10. last — finally
  11. game — a match
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. bass — the fish
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. last — final
  19. rock — music
  20. prune — to trim
  21. last — to go on
  22. season — in sport
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bark — of a tree

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