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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 116 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: swing · bark · mine · bass · stand · rash · hand · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. swing — music
  4. clip — to cut
  5. rash — a series
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. swing — to play on
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bass — low music
  11. clip — a video
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. hand — help
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. swing — in golf
  17. bass — the fish
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. hand — in cards
  21. bark — to shout
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. stand — to bear
  24. hand — part of the body

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