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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 116 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. spell — letters
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. wind — moving air
  7. spell — magic
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. hand — help
  11. tube — the underground
  12. hand — in cards
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. snap — to click
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spell — a short time
  17. tube — a container
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. spring — the season
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. clip — for paper
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bark — to shout

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