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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. spring — a coil
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. net — after costs
  5. tear — from crying
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. rash — a series
  9. drill — a practice
  10. bass — low music
  11. net — in sport
  12. bass — the fish
  13. rash — hasty
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. drill — the tool
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. drill — army training
  19. spring — of water
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to click
  22. net — for catching
  23. spring — the season
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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