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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: bass · chest · press · ball · can · mine · game · clip

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. ball — a great time
  4. game — wild animals
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. press — to push
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — a match
  10. clip — to cut
  11. chest — of your body
  12. press — a publisher
  13. ball — a dance
  14. chest — a box
  15. can — a tin
  16. bass — the fish
  17. clip — a video
  18. mine — for digging
  19. can — to be able to
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bass — low music
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. press — newspapers

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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