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

Word bank: tube · tear · bass · cell · kick · court

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. 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. court — of law
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tube — the underground
  4. bass — the fish
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. cell — in biology
  7. court — for sport
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. court — of a king
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. tear — to rip
  13. kick — in football
  14. tube — a container
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. 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