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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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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: cold · pound · deal · clip · stick · craft · bass · bat

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bat — the animal
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. cold — an illness
  6. craft — boats
  7. bass — low music
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. cold — not warm
  10. clip — a video
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. deal — to handle
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. craft — a skill
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. clip — for paper
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. pound — a weight
  24. bass — the fish

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