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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: bass · rock · bat · nail · spell · clip · march · chair

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. clip — for paper
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — a video
  7. spell — a short time
  8. march — music
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bass — the fish
  11. spell — magic
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. spell — letters
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. chair — a leader
  18. march — the month
  19. bass — low music
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. rock — music
  22. rock — a stone
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. bat — for baseball

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