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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 120 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. firm — decided
  3. firm — steady
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. kid — to tease
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cell — a phone
  9. clip — to cut
  10. spring — of water
  11. kid — child
  12. cell — in biology
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. spring — a coil
  15. clip — a video
  16. dip — to sink
  17. firm — a company
  18. spring — the season

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