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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 116 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 · field · hand · firm · spell · clip · lash · bound

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bound — tied together
  3. bound — certain
  4. firm — decided
  5. hand — help
  6. bass — low music
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — letters
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. hand — in cards
  13. firm — a company
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. clip — to cut
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. field — a subject
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. firm — steady
  20. bound — obliged
  21. bass — the fish
  22. clip — a video
  23. spell — a short time
  24. hand — part of the body

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