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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. pound — a weight
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bass — the fish
  5. plane — a tool
  6. clip — a video
  7. object — an aim
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bass — low music
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. chest — of your body
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. clip — for paper
  19. chest — a box
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. object — to protest
  24. object — a thing

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