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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bass — the fish
  8. scale — in music
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. bark — to shout
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. band — a music group
  16. bass — low music
  17. kick — in football
  18. scale — size or range
  19. cell — a phone
  20. shower — rain
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. cell — in biology
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. band — a ring

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