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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 124 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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. scale — in music
  4. ball — a dance
  5. ball — a great time
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. rash — hasty
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. rash — a series
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pit — a hole
  14. pit — in a race
  15. bass — low music
  16. can — to be able to
  17. shower — to wash
  18. can — a tin
  19. bass — the fish
  20. scale — size or range
  21. can — a tin
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. bass — the instrument

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