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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. spring — a coil
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. bass — the fish
  6. scale — size or range
  7. court — of law
  8. bass — low music
  9. dip — to sink
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. spring — the season
  12. shower — rain
  13. saw — the tool
  14. spring — of water
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. court — for sport
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. shower — to wash
  20. saw — the tool
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. scale — in music
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. dip — a sauce

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