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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. pop — music
  3. spring — a coil
  4. pop — soda
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. clip — to cut
  7. last — finally
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. row — to paddle
  11. last — to go on
  12. spring — the season
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. pop — to visit
  15. bank — for money
  16. bank — of a river
  17. bank — for money
  18. clip — a video
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. clip — for paper
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. spring — of water
  23. last — final
  24. trunk — of a tree

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