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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. spring — the season
  3. clip — a video
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. scale — size or range
  7. ground — crushed
  8. scale — in music
  9. can — a tin
  10. clip — to cut
  11. file — a tool
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wind — moving air
  14. can — a tin
  15. can — to be able to
  16. ground — the earth
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. spring — a coil
  19. file — a line of people
  20. ground — a position
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. branch — a division
  23. file — a document
  24. spring — of water

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