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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: bass · drill · root · fall · present · ground · season · kid

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. fall — the season
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. season — of the year
  5. root — the cause
  6. root — of a word
  7. season — in sport
  8. present — a gift
  9. ground — crushed
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. ground — a position
  12. present — there
  13. fall — to drop
  14. drill — a practice
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — child
  17. root — of a plant
  18. bass — low music
  19. present — the time now
  20. ground — the earth
  21. drill — army training
  22. drill — the tool
  23. fall — to drop
  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