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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 124 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. field — farmland
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. ground — a position
  5. stock — goods
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. field — for sport
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. stock — shares
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. march — the month
  12. rock — music
  13. bass — the fish
  14. craft — boats
  15. rock — a stone
  16. ground — crushed
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. wake — a trail
  20. ground — the earth
  21. craft — a skill
  22. field — a subject
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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