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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. bass — the fish
  3. mine — for digging
  4. vault — in gymnastics
  5. vault — a safe
  6. spring — the season
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. hand — in cards
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. row — a line
  11. hand — help
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. bass — low music
  14. spring — of water
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — after costs
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. spring — a coil
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. net — in sport
  22. deal — to handle
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. row — to paddle

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