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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. march — the month
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. perch — the fish
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — the arms race
  9. mine — for digging
  10. march — music
  11. snap — to click
  12. track — a path
  13. march — the month
  14. bass — the fish
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. stock — shares
  17. track — a song
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. track — to keep track
  21. race — humankind
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. stock — goods
  24. perch — for a bird

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