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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  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. bass — the instrument
  2. ground — crushed
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. ground — a position
  6. spell — letters
  7. swing — in golf
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. bass — the fish
  10. wound — an injury
  11. swing — to play on
  12. spell — a short time
  13. kid — to tease
  14. spell — magic
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. wound — an injury
  20. row — a line
  21. ground — the earth
  22. swing — music
  23. bass — low music
  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