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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: board · clip · bass · mark · chest · chair · ball · spring

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. mark — a grade
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — a video
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. board — a committee
  10. chest — a box
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — of water
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — to cut
  15. board — to get on
  16. clip — for paper
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. ball — a dance
  19. chair — a leader
  20. ball — a great time
  21. chest — of your body
  22. mark — a trace
  23. bass — low music
  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