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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. bass — the fish
  3. chest — of your body
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. capital — a city
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. pop — soda
  8. roll — a cake
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. roll — a list
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. pop — to visit
  14. capital — money
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. cell — in biology
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. lean — to bend
  19. pop — music
  20. chest — a box
  21. chest — of your body
  22. lean — thin
  23. cell — a phone
  24. patient — a sick person

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