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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. band — a music group
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. bass — low music
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. hand — help
  10. bass — the fish
  11. band — a ring
  12. hand — in cards
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. stem — to come from
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. wake — a trail

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