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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: nail · net · clip · hide · last · bass · game · drill

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. last — final
  3. net — for catching
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bass — the fish
  6. drill — the tool
  7. game — wild animals
  8. net — after costs
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. game — a match
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. clip — for paper
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. drill — army training
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. last — to go on
  17. clip — to cut
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. drill — a practice
  20. net — in sport
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. clip — a video
  23. bass — low music
  24. last — finally

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