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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. bass — low music
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. band — a ring
  8. wound — an injury
  9. game — a match
  10. perch — the fish
  11. wound — an injury
  12. game — wild animals
  13. tear — to rip
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. cap — of ice
  16. bass — the fish
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying
  19. cap — a hat
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cap — a lid
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. band — a music group

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