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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 120 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: season · mine · march · bass · kid · rock · spell · wound

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. mine — for digging
  3. march — the month
  4. bass — the fish
  5. wound — an injury
  6. spell — a short time
  7. bass — low music
  8. march — music
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. spell — letters
  11. spell — magic
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. rock — a stone
  15. season — of the year
  16. march — the month
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. kid — child
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. rock — music
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wound — an injury
  24. season — in sport

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