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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. chair — a leader
  3. bass — low music
  4. field — for sport
  5. prune — to trim
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. prune — to trim
  8. bass — the fish
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. roll — a cake
  12. row — to paddle
  13. roll — a list
  14. field — farmland
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — not warm
  18. staff — employees
  19. staff — employees
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. cold — an illness
  22. staff — a stick
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. field — a subject

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