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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: net · rock · clip · branch · mug · bass · bat · cold

  1. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. bass — the fish
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mug — a cup
  7. bat — the animal
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bass — low music
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. net — in sport
  13. rock — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. net — after costs
  18. clip — for paper
  19. branch — a division
  20. net — for catching
  21. mug — to rob
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. rock — a stone
  24. clip — to cut

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