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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: rash · chip · bat · sharp · band · mine · clip · bark

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bat — the animal
  5. clip — a video
  6. band — a ring
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. sharp — clever
  9. chip — for betting
  10. rash — a series
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. clip — for paper
  13. chip — to eat
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. mine — for digging
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bark — to shout
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. rash — hasty
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. sharp — exactly

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