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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: wound · band · lash · patient · clip · bass · mine · rest

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  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. patient — calm and waiting
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. clip — a video
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. wound — an injury
  8. band — a music group
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. rest — what's left
  11. mine — for digging
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. bass — the fish
  15. band — a ring
  16. rest — what's left
  17. wound — an injury
  18. clip — to cut
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bass — low music
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. rest — a break
  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