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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: court · deal · content · tear · hand · cell · plane · bass

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. court — of law
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. deal — to handle
  5. hand — help
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. plane — a tool
  9. content — happy
  10. bass — the fish
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hand — in cards
  14. court — for sport
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cell — a phone
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. court — of a king
  19. cell — in biology
  20. tear — from crying
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. content — the amount

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