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

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bat — the animal
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. foot — a measure
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. bass — the fish
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. shower — to wash
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bass — low music
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. wake — a trail
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. kid — child
  22. shower — rain
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. clip — for paper

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