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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. clip — for paper
  3. spring — the season
  4. bound — tied together
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — to cut
  8. mate — a partner
  9. mate — a friend
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. mate — to breed
  12. spring — of water
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. rash — a series
  15. mine — for digging
  16. spring — a coil
  17. bound — certain
  18. bound — obliged

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