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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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spring — the season
  4. lie — to recline
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. spell — magic
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rash — hasty
  11. track — to keep track
  12. wind — moving air
  13. rash — a series
  14. spell — a short time
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. spring — of water
  17. spell — letters
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. spring — a coil
  23. track — a song
  24. clip — a video

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