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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. hand — in cards
  3. bass — low music
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. clip — a video
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. hand — help
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. deal — to handle
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. band — a ring
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. mine — for digging
  22. bass — the fish
  23. clip — for paper
  24. hand — part of the body

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