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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · mine · court · bass · rash · calf · saw · stock

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. clip — for paper
  4. court — of a king
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. rash — a series
  7. clip — a video
  8. stock — goods
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. court — for sport
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bass — the fish
  13. saw — the tool
  14. court — of law
  15. rash — hasty
  16. mine — for digging
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. saw — the tool
  19. stock — shares
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. clip — to cut
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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