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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 124 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: craft · spring · drill · band · clip · pitch

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. clip — a video
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. craft — boats
  5. spring — of water
  6. craft — a skill
  7. drill — a practice
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. clip — to cut
  10. band — a ring
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spring — the season
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. clip — for paper
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. drill — army training
  17. drill — the tool
  18. pitch — completely

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