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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. bass — the fish
  4. rash — hasty
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. cold — an illness
  7. fork — in a road
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. swing — music
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. scale — size or range
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rash — a series
  16. scale — in music
  17. swing — to play on
  18. wake — a trail
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. swing — in golf
  21. squash — to crush
  22. bass — low music
  23. squash — the sport
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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