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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. chair — a leader
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. craft — boats
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. bass — low music
  9. craft — a skill
  10. shower — rain
  11. court — of a king
  12. court — for sport
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. shower — to wash
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. court — of law
  17. mine — for digging
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. stock — shares
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. bass — the fish
  23. stock — goods
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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