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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: fall · bass · shower · chair · bowl · last · clip · bulb

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. bulb — for light
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. shower — to wash
  8. last — to go on
  9. clip — a video
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — to drop
  12. clip — for paper
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. clip — to cut
  15. shower — rain
  16. fall — the season
  17. bass — low music
  18. last — final
  19. bulb — for light
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. last — finally
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. bulb — of a plant

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