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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
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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: land · hand · content · row · hide · bass · net · mug

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. row — a line
  3. mug — a cup
  4. land — to come down
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. content — happy
  10. hand — help
  11. mug — a face
  12. bass — the fish
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. net — in sport
  16. content — the amount
  17. land — ground
  18. net — for catching
  19. hand — in cards
  20. mug — to rob
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. net — after costs
  23. land — a country
  24. row — to paddle

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