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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 · land · scale · rest · trunk · court · sharp · row

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. bass — low music
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. land — a country
  5. scale — size or range
  6. rest — a break
  7. bass — the fish
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. sharp — clever
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — what's left
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — for sport
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. row — a line
  20. scale — in music
  21. land — to come down
  22. court — of law
  23. land — ground
  24. trunk — of a tree

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