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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. bass — low music
  4. tear — from crying
  5. net — for catching
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. cap — a lid
  8. cap — a hat
  9. current — electric
  10. net — in sport
  11. bass — the fish
  12. chest — a box
  13. current — of water
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cap — of ice
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. chest — of your body
  18. current — happening now
  19. chest — of your body
  20. tear — to rip
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. net — after costs
  24. cold — an illness

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