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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. tear — from crying
  8. clip — a video
  9. chest — a box
  10. bass — the fish
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bulb — for light
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. bass — low music
  15. saw — the tool
  16. chest — of your body
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. wound — an injury
  19. tear — to rip
  20. saw — the tool
  21. clip — to cut
  22. tear — from crying
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. bulb — for light

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