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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: bark · hand · spring · bass · last · fall · game · pitch

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. pitch — completely
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. game — wild animals
  5. bass — the fish
  6. fall — the season
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — final
  9. bass — low music
  10. hand — help
  11. spring — the season
  12. last — finally
  13. bark — to shout
  14. fall — to drop
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. hand — in cards
  20. fall — to drop
  21. spring — of water
  22. game — a match
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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