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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. shower — to wash
  3. band — a music group
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. clip — for paper
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. ball — a great time
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. band — a ring
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. clip — a video
  17. shower — rain
  18. ball — a dance
  19. branch — a division
  20. bass — low music
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. clip — to cut
  24. ball — a round shape

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