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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: bass · scale · land · fork · pitcher · court · mine · lash

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. court — for sport
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bass — the fish
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. land — ground
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. land — a country
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. land — to come down
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. court — of a king
  17. mine — for digging
  18. fork — in a road
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. scale — in music
  22. court — of law
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. mine — an explosive

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