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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bass — low music
  4. drill — a practice
  5. bass — the fish
  6. prune — to trim
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. band — a music group
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. file — a tool
  12. drill — the tool
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a line of people
  15. band — a ring
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. root — the cause
  20. root — of a word
  21. root — of a plant
  22. drill — army training
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. prune — to trim

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