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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: snap · bat · court · clip · bulb · bass · hand · field

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bass — the fish
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. field — for sport
  5. bass — low music
  6. snap — to click
  7. bulb — for light
  8. field — a subject
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. hand — in cards
  13. court — of a king
  14. clip — to cut
  15. court — of law
  16. clip — for paper
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. field — farmland
  22. hand — help
  23. court — for sport
  24. bulb — for light

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