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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bass — the fish
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. last — finally
  7. band — a music group
  8. clip — a video
  9. object — an aim
  10. wind — moving air
  11. clip — to cut
  12. last — final
  13. object — to protest
  14. bass — low music
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — in cards
  18. band — a ring
  19. last — to go on
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. kick — in football
  22. clip — for paper
  23. object — a thing
  24. band — a rubber band

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