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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 116 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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  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. bay — a horse colour
  2. band — a music group
  3. bass — low music
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bay — to keep at bay
  8. band — a ring
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. clip — a video
  15. hand — in cards
  16. wound — an injury
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. clip — to cut
  20. hand — help
  21. bear — the animal
  22. spring — a coil
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  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