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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. pop — to visit
  3. capital — a city
  4. pop — music
  5. game — a match
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. pop — soda
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bass — the fish
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — to trim
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. sharp — clever
  22. capital — money
  23. bass — low music
  24. straw — dry grass

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