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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. clip — to cut
  3. spring — the season
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. branch — a division
  6. key — for a lock
  7. clip — a video
  8. spring — a coil
  9. current — happening now
  10. swing — music
  11. spring — of water
  12. swing — in golf
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. swing — to play on
  15. current — of water
  16. key — the most important part
  17. cold — not warm
  18. clip — for paper
  19. key — in music
  20. pound — a weight
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. current — electric
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. branch — 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