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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: squash · net · mine · clip · band · wound

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. net — in sport
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. clip — to cut
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. band — a music group
  8. clip — for paper
  9. squash — to crush
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. net — after costs
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. mine — for digging
  15. net — for catching
  16. wound — an injury
  17. squash — the sport
  18. band — a ring

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