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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: tear · rock · bass · kid · scale · spell · capital · fork

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bass — the fish
  4. rock — a stone
  5. fork — in a road
  6. tear — from crying
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. rock — music
  9. capital — a city
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. capital — money
  12. bass — low music
  13. spell — letters
  14. scale — in music
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. tear — to rip
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. spell — a short time
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. spell — magic
  22. kid — to tease
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. scale — size or range

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