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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: bass · bark · field · file · mouse · cold · ground · pop

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. field — for sport
  3. ground — the earth
  4. file — a document
  5. pop — music
  6. bass — low music
  7. bass — the fish
  8. field — farmland
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. ground — crushed
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pop — to visit
  15. cold — an illness
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. ground — a position
  18. field — a subject
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. pop — soda
  23. file — a tool
  24. file — a line of people

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