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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  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. clip — for paper
  2. spring — of water
  3. pop — to visit
  4. spring — the season
  5. spell — a short time
  6. row — to paddle
  7. pop — soda
  8. last — to go on
  9. hand — help
  10. spell — magic
  11. rush — hurry
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. last — finally
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. clip — a video
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. pop — music
  18. spell — letters
  19. row — a line
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. spring — a coil
  22. hand — in cards
  23. last — final
  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