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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 · straw · nail · plane · spell · ball · prune · snap

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bass — low music
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. spell — a short time
  5. prune — to trim
  6. ball — a great time
  7. bass — the fish
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. snap — to click
  12. plane — a tool
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. spell — letters
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. ball — a dance
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. spell — magic
  24. nail — for a hammer

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