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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. spring — the season
  3. track — to keep track
  4. bank — for money
  5. row — a line
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. chest — a box
  8. clip — a video
  9. track — a song
  10. spring — of water
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. bank — for money
  13. spring — a coil
  14. clip — for paper
  15. hand — help
  16. clip — to cut
  17. row — to paddle
  18. bank — of a river
  19. chest — of your body
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. chest — of your body
  23. hand — in cards
  24. track — a path

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