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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: fan · clip · mine · patient · prune · bass · shower · cap

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. clip — for paper
  3. prune — to trim
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bass — low music
  10. prune — to trim
  11. shower — rain
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bass — the fish
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. clip — to cut
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. clip — a video
  23. cap — a lid
  24. cap — of ice

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