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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: ground · cold · ball · root · bass · mate · cell · tear

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. bass — low music
  4. ball — a great time
  5. tear — to rip
  6. ground — crushed
  7. ground — a position
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cell — in biology
  11. ground — the earth
  12. mate — a partner
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. cold — not warm
  15. root — of a word
  16. root — of a plant
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cell — a phone
  19. ball — a dance
  20. mate — a friend
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. mate — to breed
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. root — the cause

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