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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. ground — crushed
  3. prune — to trim
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. ground — a position
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ground — the earth
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. clip — to cut
  12. prune — to trim
  13. clip — for paper
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. pound — a weight
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bark — to shout
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ball — a dance
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. clip — a video

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