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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. shower — rain
  3. wax — to grow
  4. chest — a box
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. chest — of your body
  9. shower — to wash
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. degree — from a university
  12. plane — a tool
  13. bass — the fish
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bat — the animal
  16. prune — to trim
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. degree — an amount
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bass — low music
  24. bat — for baseball

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