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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. mine — for digging
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. bank — for money
  6. club — for dancing
  7. spring — a coil
  8. clip — a video
  9. hand — help
  10. spring — the season
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. clip — to cut
  13. ball — a great time
  14. club — for golf
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. club — a group
  18. clip — for paper
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. bank — of a river
  22. ball — a dance
  23. bank — for money
  24. hand — in cards

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