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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: clip · chest · wave · drill · bear · fine

  1. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. bear — the animal
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. drill — army training
  8. fine — high quality
  9. clip — a video
  10. drill — the tool
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. drill — a practice
  15. bear — the animal
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. clip — to cut
  18. chest — a box

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