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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. cold — not warm
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. bat — the animal
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. vault — a safe
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bore — to drill
  17. bore — to tire
  18. chest — a box
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a music group
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bat — for baseball

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