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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: racket · cold · squash · band · pass · clip · roll · straw

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. clip — a video
  5. squash — to crush
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — for paper
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. cold — not warm
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. roll — a cake
  14. band — a music group
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. squash — the sport
  19. roll — a list
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. clip — to cut
  22. pass — a permit
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — dry grass

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