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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. bass — low music
  3. ground — crushed
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bass — the fish
  7. roll — a cake
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. can — to be able to
  10. ground — a position
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. tear — to rip
  14. can — a tin
  15. can — a tin
  16. spell — letters
  17. tear — from crying
  18. chair — a leader
  19. tear — from crying
  20. ground — the earth
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — a short time
  23. wound — an injury
  24. roll — a list

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