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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bat — the animal
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. board — to get on
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. board — a committee
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. pop — to visit
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. band — a music group
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. band — a ring
  16. game — a match
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. game — wild animals
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. pop — soda
  21. pop — music
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. spring — the season

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