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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. bass — low music
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bass — the fish
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. drill — a practice
  8. capital — money
  9. saw — the tool
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. chest — of your body
  12. capital — a city
  13. kid — to tease
  14. saw — the tool
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. chest — a box
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — to trim
  19. kid — child
  20. drill — army training
  21. deal — to handle
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. drill — the tool
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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