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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. stem — to come from
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. pop — to visit
  5. court — for sport
  6. court — of a king
  7. bass — the fish
  8. band — a music group
  9. squash — the sport
  10. last — to go on
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. pop — music
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. pop — soda
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. court — of law
  18. band — a ring
  19. last — final
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. squash — to crush
  22. last — finally
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. straw — dry grass

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