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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: bass · wound · chest · snap · bank · swing · clip · pop

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pop — music
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pop — soda
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. pop — to visit
  8. swing — music
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — a video
  12. swing — to play on
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bank — for money
  16. bank — of a river
  17. bank — for money
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. wound — an injury
  20. clip — for paper
  21. chest — a box
  22. bass — low music
  23. swing — in golf
  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