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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.

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: mouse · field · land · shower · bass · cold · squash · plane

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. bass — the fish
  7. field — a subject
  8. squash — to crush
  9. bass — low music
  10. shower — rain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. field — for sport
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. land — ground
  15. squash — the sport
  16. plane — a tool
  17. field — farmland
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. shower — to wash
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. cold — not warm

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