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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · wound · leaves · dip · bass · cold · field · clip

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. field — a subject
  3. bass — low music
  4. clip — for paper
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. dip — to sink
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. swing — music
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. bass — the fish
  14. field — for sport
  15. clip — a video
  16. field — farmland
  17. wound — an injury
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. clip — to cut
  21. swing — in golf
  22. swing — to play on
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — an illness

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