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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 120 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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. clip — to cut
  3. current — electric
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. current — happening now
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. bear — the animal
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. hand — in cards
  12. bear — the animal
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. rush — hurry
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — a coil
  18. hand — help
  19. net — for catching
  20. current — of water
  21. clip — a video
  22. net — after costs
  23. net — in sport
  24. spring — the season

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