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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 · spring · stock · bass · swing · clip · straw · land

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. spring — a coil
  3. band — a ring
  4. clip — a video
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. swing — in golf
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. swing — to play on
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. swing — music
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bass — low music
  13. land — a country
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stock — goods
  16. land — ground
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. band — a music group
  19. stock — shares
  20. spring — of water
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. land — to come down
  23. bass — the fish
  24. spring — the season

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