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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. pound — a weight
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. chair — a leader
  7. squash — the sport
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. field — for sport
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bass — the fish
  12. field — a subject
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. squash — to crush
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. content — the amount
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. bulb — for light
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — farmland
  22. bulb — for light
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bass — low music

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