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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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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: cold · court · bass · mouse · swing · rule · scale · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. court — for sport
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. swing — to play on
  7. scale — size or range
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. court — of law
  11. swing — in golf
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. rule — government
  14. rule — a law
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. swing — music
  17. scale — in music
  18. court — of a king
  19. cold — not warm
  20. tear — to rip
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bass — low music
  24. bass — the fish

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