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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. bass — low music
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. field — a subject
  7. ball — a great time
  8. tube — the underground
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. charge — electricity
  14. bass — the fish
  15. charge — in control
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. tube — a container
  18. field — farmland
  19. ball — a dance
  20. field — for sport
  21. cold — an illness
  22. charge — a price
  23. game — a match
  24. mine — an explosive

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