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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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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 · plane · roll · mate · fork · bass · press · pound

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. bass — low music
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. press — to push
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. mate — a friend
  13. plane — a tool
  14. press — newspapers
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. pound — a weight
  17. press — a publisher
  18. mate — to breed
  19. mate — a partner
  20. fork — in a road
  21. roll — a list
  22. roll — a cake
  23. bass — the fish
  24. plane — in geometry

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