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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. pop — music
  4. bank — of a river
  5. chest — of your body
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. cap — of ice
  9. cap — a hat
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — for paper
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. chest — a box
  16. pop — to visit
  17. bank — for money
  18. pop — soda
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a music group
  21. branch — a division
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bank — for money
  24. clip — to cut

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