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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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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 · game · track · rule · field · squash · straw · sharp

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bass — low music
  3. sharp — clever
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. rule — government
  6. game — a match
  7. squash — the sport
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. bass — the fish
  10. squash — to crush
  11. rule — a law
  12. field — for sport
  13. game — wild animals
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. track — a song
  19. track — to keep track
  20. track — a path
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. sharp — exactly

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