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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bass — the fish
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. capital — a city
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. field — a subject
  7. pound — a weight
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. squash — the sport
  10. capital — money
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. season — of the year
  13. field — for sport
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. wound — an injury
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. field — farmland
  18. season — in sport
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. squash — to crush
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. bass — low music
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wound — an injury

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