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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. clip — for paper
  3. wound — an injury
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. cell — a phone
  10. clip — a video
  11. sharp — clever
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. clip — to cut
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cell — in biology
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. stand — to bear
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. bass — low music
  23. bass — the fish
  24. wound — an injury

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