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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: land · bark · mate · bass · pass · cold · club · straw

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. club — for golf
  4. mate — a friend
  5. club — a group
  6. bark — to shout
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bass — the fish
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. mate — a partner
  11. mate — to breed
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. land — to come down
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. bass — low music
  16. land — ground
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. pass — a permit
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. club — for dancing
  24. cold — an illness

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