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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: track · land · dip · spring · bowl · clip

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. 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. land — a country
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. track — to keep track
  8. land — to come down
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. track — a path
  12. dip — to sink
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. land — ground
  16. track — a song
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. 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