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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: wave · track · land · capital · hide · bass · face · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bass — the fish
  3. land — a country
  4. face — to confront
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. capital — money
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. face — to point toward
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. bass — low music
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. track — a path
  17. capital — a city
  18. land — to come down
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. track — a song
  22. track — to keep track
  23. land — ground
  24. face — part of the head

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