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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. hand — help
  3. swing — in golf
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. shower — to wash
  6. roll — a list
  7. rock — music
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. rock — a stone
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. last — to go on
  12. roll — a cake
  13. file — a line of people
  14. bass — low music
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. shower — rain
  18. swing — music
  19. swing — to play on
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bass — the fish
  22. hand — in cards
  23. last — finally
  24. bass — the instrument

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