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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: band · court · season · last · chest · bass · sharp · clip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. last — to go on
  3. band — a music group
  4. court — for sport
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. season — in sport
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — a box
  9. court — of a king
  10. clip — a video
  11. sharp — clever
  12. last — final
  13. clip — for paper
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. band — a ring
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. last — finally
  19. bass — low music
  20. court — of law
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. season — of the year
  23. chest — of your body
  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