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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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. bass — low music
  5. spring — the season
  6. band — a ring
  7. band — a music group
  8. craft — boats
  9. clip — to cut
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. craft — a skill
  12. spring — of water
  13. wake — a trail
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. saw — the tool
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. clip — for paper
  18. spring — a coil
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. mine — for digging
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. clip — a video
  24. bass — the fish

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