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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: race · degree · hand · bass · club · chest · clip · lash

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. club — for golf
  5. degree — temperature
  6. clip — to cut
  7. hand — help
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. chest — a box
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — a contest
  15. clip — a video
  16. race — humankind
  17. club — a group
  18. degree — from a university
  19. clip — for paper
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. hand — in cards
  22. club — for dancing
  23. degree — an amount
  24. bass — low music

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