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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: wind · chest · clip · fan · band · stick · hand · key

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. clip — a video
  3. hand — in cards
  4. key — in music
  5. key — the most important part
  6. hand — help
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — to cut
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. chest — of your body
  12. band — a ring
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chest — a box
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. wind — moving air
  19. chest — of your body
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. band — a music group
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. band — a rubber band

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