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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. bass — the fish
  5. cold — not warm
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bass — low music
  9. content — happy
  10. wake — a trail
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. content — the amount
  14. lie — to recline
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. cold — an illness
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. deal — to handle

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