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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. rash — a series
  3. fall — to drop
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rash — hasty
  8. chip — to eat
  9. fall — to drop
  10. row — to paddle
  11. chip — for betting
  12. land — to come down
  13. clip — a video
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — a line
  16. bass — the fish
  17. fall — the season
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — farmland
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. field — for sport
  22. clip — to cut
  23. land — ground
  24. land — a country

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