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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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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: spell · last · bass · trunk · kid · rock · rest · cold

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. rock — music
  3. rest — what's left
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — a short time
  9. cold — not warm
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. rest — what's left
  13. spell — magic
  14. bass — low music
  15. kid — to tease
  16. rest — a break
  17. rock — a stone
  18. kid — child
  19. last — finally
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. bass — the fish
  24. last — to go on

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