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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 116 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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. track — to keep track
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. row — to paddle
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a match
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. file — a document
  11. row — a line
  12. track — a path
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. file — a tool
  15. band — a music group
  16. track — a song
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. bass — the fish
  19. file — a line of people
  20. mine — for digging
  21. band — a ring
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. bass — low music
  24. row — a quarrel

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