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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bass · fork · tear · track · cold · cell

  1. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. cell — a phone
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. bass — the fish
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. track — to keep track
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. tear — to rip
  14. track — a song
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. track — a path
  17. bass — low music
  18. cell — in biology

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