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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: pass · clip · cold · hand · bound · band · key · coach

  1. This piece is in a major ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — in music
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pass — a permit
  6. key — for a lock
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — in cards
  9. bound — certain
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. bound — tied together
  12. clip — a video
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. band — a music group
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. cold — an illness
  17. band — a ring
  18. key — the most important part
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. bound — obliged
  24. clip — for paper

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