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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. bass — low music
  3. drill — the tool
  4. drill — army training
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. spell — letters
  7. drill — a practice
  8. pound — a weight
  9. cue — for pool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cue — a signal
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. cue — a hint
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. bass — the fish
  16. clip — a video
  17. spell — a short time
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. spell — magic
  22. clip — to cut
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. clip — for paper

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