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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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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: root · jam · last · cold · rest · content · clip · bass

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bass — low music
  3. rest — a break
  4. root — of a word
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. clip — to cut
  7. root — of a plant
  8. last — final
  9. bass — the fish
  10. cold — not warm
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. content — the amount
  16. last — finally
  17. root — the cause
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. rest — what's left
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. cold — an illness
  22. rest — what's left
  23. clip — for paper
  24. last — to go 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