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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: hand · bass · season · field · cabinet · shower · racket · wound

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. season — in sport
  6. bass — the fish
  7. season — of the year
  8. wound — an injury
  9. field — a subject
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. field — farmland
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. field — for sport
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — in cards
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. shower — to wash
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. wound — an injury
  22. shower — rain
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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