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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: shower · bass · band · degree · clip · land · nail · arm

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. degree — from a university
  3. land — a country
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. band — a ring
  7. bass — low music
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bass — the fish
  10. clip — a video
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. land — to come down
  15. shower — rain
  16. degree — temperature
  17. shower — to wash
  18. clip — for paper
  19. land — ground
  20. band — a music group
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. nail — for a hammer

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