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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 116 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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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: prune · bass · ground · cold · court · pound · swing · deal

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. ground — crushed
  3. court — for sport
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pound — a weight
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. bass — low music
  8. swing — in golf
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bass — the fish
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. cold — an illness
  14. court — of a king
  15. swing — to play on
  16. cold — not warm
  17. deal — to handle
  18. ground — a position
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. ground — the earth
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. court — of law
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. swing — music

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