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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. present — a gift
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. band — a ring
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. bass — low music
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. clip — for paper
  10. present — there
  11. squash — to crush
  12. band — a music group
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. chair — a leader
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bass — the fish
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. squash — the sport
  19. rest — a break
  20. clip — a video
  21. rest — what's left
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. rest — what's left
  24. present — the time now

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