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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 · wound · mouse · straw · capital · field · ball · march

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bass — the fish
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. capital — a city
  5. march — the month
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. march — the month
  11. bass — low music
  12. march — music
  13. field — a subject
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wound — an injury
  18. ball — a dance
  19. ball — a great time
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. bass — the instrument

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