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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 116 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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. spring — a coil
  3. march — music
  4. root — of a word
  5. bound — obliged
  6. march — the month
  7. dip — to sink
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. spring — the season
  10. bound — tied together
  11. bound — certain
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. march — the month
  15. mine — for digging
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. clip — to cut
  18. root — the cause
  19. root — of a plant
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. spring — of water
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. straw — a straw man

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