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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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. nail — for a hammer
  2. bank — for money
  3. mark — a trace
  4. clip — a video
  5. spring — a coil
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. bank — of a river
  8. mark — a grade
  9. bank — for money
  10. spring — the season
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. clip — to cut
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. content — happy
  15. clip — for paper
  16. sharp — clever
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. content — the amount
  21. spring — of water
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. cold — not warm
  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