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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spring · bass · chair · degree · lie · clip · fan · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bass — low music
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. bass — the fish
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. clip — to cut
  8. spring — the season
  9. clip — a video
  10. chair — a leader
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. spring — of water
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lie — to recline
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. degree — temperature
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. degree — from a university
  19. clip — for paper
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. degree — an amount
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. spring — a coil
  24. chair — to sit on

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