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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: wind · nail · bass · clip · bank · march · cap · cold

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. march — the month
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. bass — low music
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cap — a hat
  13. bank — for money
  14. clip — a video
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bass — the fish
  17. cap — a lid
  18. march — the month
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. bank — of a river
  21. bank — for money
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. clip — for paper
  24. march — music

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