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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 116 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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bass — the fish
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. snap — to click
  5. fall — to drop
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. bass — low music
  10. drill — a practice
  11. sharp — clever
  12. drill — the tool
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. fall — to drop
  19. drill — army training
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. fall — the season

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