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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: drill · saw · swing · bay · bass · land · bat · snap

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  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. bass — the fish
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. saw — the tool
  4. drill — army training
  5. swing — to play on
  6. land — to come down
  7. bass — low music
  8. swing — music
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. snap — to click
  11. drill — a practice
  12. land — ground
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. swing — in golf
  17. drill — the tool
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. land — a country
  22. saw — the tool
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  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