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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. bass — the fish
  5. spell — a short time
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. ground — crushed
  8. wound — an injury
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. spell — magic
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bass — low music
  14. spell — letters
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. ground — the earth
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. wound — an injury
  19. ground — a position
  20. last — to go on
  21. stem — to come from
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. last — finally

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