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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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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: clip · pound · lash · key · band · wake · shower · field

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. shower — rain
  4. band — a music group
  5. clip — for paper
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. shower — to wash
  9. wake — a trail
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pound — a weight
  13. key — in music
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. key — the most important part
  17. key — for a lock
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. field — a subject
  20. band — a ring
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. field — for sport
  23. clip — a video
  24. field — farmland

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