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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. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. cold — an illness
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bank — of a river
  6. clip — to cut
  7. court — of a king
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. court — of law
  10. bank — for money
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bass — low music
  13. hand — in cards
  14. bank — for money
  15. court — for sport
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bass — the fish
  19. swing — in golf
  20. vault — a safe
  21. clip — a video
  22. hand — help
  23. swing — to play on
  24. swing — music

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