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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: root · mine · scale · cold · bass · fall · hand · row

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. scale — in music
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. root — the cause
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — for digging
  10. scale — size or range
  11. hand — help
  12. root — of a word
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. fall — the season
  16. hand — in cards
  17. fall — to drop
  18. root — of a plant
  19. fall — to drop
  20. row — a line
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. bass — the fish
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. bass — the instrument

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