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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. clip — for paper
  3. tear — from crying
  4. spring — the season
  5. swing — in golf
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. roll — a cake
  8. spring — a coil
  9. tear — to rip
  10. scale — size or range
  11. swing — music
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. scale — in music
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. roll — a list
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. clip — a video
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. stand — to bear
  20. swing — to play on
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. tear — from crying
  23. fork — in a road
  24. clip — to cut

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