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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: ball · bass · stem · spell · toast · wind · tear · kid

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. toast — bread
  5. spell — letters
  6. bass — low music
  7. kid — child
  8. tear — from crying
  9. spell — magic
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. tear — from crying
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. ball — a great time
  17. stem — to come from
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. tear — to rip
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. spell — a short time
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bass — the fish
  24. toast — the most admired

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