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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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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: staff · row · spring · bass · rush · file · mouse · fall

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. bass — low music
  3. bass — the fish
  4. rush — hurry
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spring — a coil
  7. file — a line of people
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. row — a line
  14. fall — to drop
  15. file — a tool
  16. row — to paddle
  17. staff — employees
  18. fall — the season
  19. file — a document
  20. spring — the season
  21. staff — a stick
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. spring — of water
  24. rush — a thrill

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