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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. spell — magic
  4. spell — a short time
  5. clip — a video
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. clip — for paper
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. tube — a container
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. cold — not warm
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spell — letters
  16. bark — to shout
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. clip — to cut
  19. fall — the season
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bass — the fish
  22. fall — to drop
  23. plane — a tool
  24. fall — to drop

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