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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. dip — to sink
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. scale — size or range
  7. rock — music
  8. sharp — clever
  9. bass — low music
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. rock — a stone
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. row — a line
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — thin
  22. row — to paddle
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. scale — in music

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