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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. last — finally
  3. game — wild animals
  4. cell — a phone
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. roll — a list
  7. prune — to trim
  8. roll — a cake
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. game — a match
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. lie — to recline
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. last — final
  17. last — to go on
  18. bass — the fish
  19. bark — to shout
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — the fruit

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