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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: bat · row · shower · mine · pop · stick · fan · bass

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. shower — to wash
  5. pop — to visit
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. bass — the fish
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bat — the animal
  10. row — to paddle
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. pop — soda
  24. row — a line

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