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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: net · clip · band · court · wound · race · pop · scale

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wound — an injury
  3. race — the arms race
  4. scale — size or range
  5. court — for sport
  6. scale — in music
  7. pop — music
  8. court — of law
  9. wound — an injury
  10. net — in sport
  11. band — a ring
  12. race — a contest
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — for paper
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. pop — to visit
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. court — of a king
  20. net — after costs
  21. net — for catching
  22. pop — soda
  23. race — humankind
  24. band — a music group

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