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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. bass — low music
  3. bark — to shout
  4. chest — of your body
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. race — the arms race
  9. rule — a law
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. key — in music
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. race — a contest
  14. key — for a lock
  15. rule — government
  16. chest — a box
  17. cold — not warm
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bass — the fish
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. race — humankind
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. key — the most important part

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