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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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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. clip — a video
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. key — for a lock
  6. cold — an illness
  7. last — finally
  8. bank — for money
  9. last — to go on
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bank — of a river
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. roll — a cake
  14. key — the most important part
  15. spring — a coil
  16. roll — a list
  17. bank — for money
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cold — not warm
  20. last — final
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. key — in music

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