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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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Word bank
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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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. clip — to cut
  4. snap — to click
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — a match
  8. spring — the season
  9. clip — a video
  10. bear — the animal
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. game — wild animals
  15. saw — the tool
  16. spring — a coil
  17. bear — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. spring — of water

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