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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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Word bank
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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: bat · root · pound · bass · cell · cold · file · sharp

  1. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — the cause
  2. sharp — clever
  3. file — a tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bass — low music
  7. root — of a word
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. bat — the animal
  15. root — of a plant
  16. file — a line of people
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. bass — the fish
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. cell — a phone
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. pound — a weight
  23. file — a document
  24. sharp — exactly

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