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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. net — in sport
  3. clip — a video
  4. date — the fruit
  5. last — final
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. bat — the animal
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. clip — to cut
  11. net — after costs
  12. last — to go on
  13. last — finally
  14. spring — of water
  15. net — for catching
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. branch — a division
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. spring — the season
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. clip — for paper

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