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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.

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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: perch · cell · bass · stick · chest · row · hand · court

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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. stick — a piece of wood
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. perch — the fish
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. court — of a king
  10. cell — a phone
  11. bass — the fish
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. court — for sport
  15. chest — a box
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. court — of law
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. cell — in biology
  21. chest — of your body
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  24. perch — for a bird

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