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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 120 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: bass · chest · clip · land · ground · pass · band · mine

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. clip — for paper
  3. chest — a box
  4. bass — low music
  5. land — ground
  6. ground — crushed
  7. chest — of your body
  8. ground — a position
  9. land — a country
  10. clip — a video
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. mine — for digging
  13. pass — a permit
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. land — to come down
  16. band — a music group
  17. bass — the fish
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. clip — to cut
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. band — a ring
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pass — to spend time

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