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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: bark · lie · court · snap · bass · rash · pitcher · bat

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. snap — to click
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. bass — low music
  7. court — for sport
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. rash — a series
  10. lie — to recline
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. court — of law
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bark — to shout
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. bat — the animal
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. court — of a king
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bass — the instrument
  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