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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: fork · fall · clip · mine · snap · plane · bass · craft

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. clip — a video
  3. craft — boats
  4. bass — the fish
  5. bass — low music
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. clip — to cut
  8. snap — to click
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. mine — for digging
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. fall — to drop
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. plane — a tool
  19. craft — a skill
  20. fork — in a road
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — 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