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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. branch — a division
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. perch — the fish
  7. file — a document
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. spring — the season
  11. bass — the fish
  12. face — to point toward
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. file — a line of people
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. face — to confront
  20. face — part of the head
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. spring — of water
  24. file — a tool

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