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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. spell — magic
  3. bass — low music
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. squash — to crush
  6. pit — a hole
  7. tear — to rip
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. tear — from crying
  12. spell — a short time
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. pit — in a race
  17. squash — the sport
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. bat — the animal
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. stand — to bear
  24. squash — the vegetable

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