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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · scale · mine · root · bass · wax · arm · row

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. row — a line
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. row — to paddle
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mine — for digging
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. root — of a plant
  10. wax — to grow
  11. scale — in music
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. root — of a word
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. scale — size or range
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bass — low music
  24. root — the cause

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