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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: mine · clip · craft · wind · race · scale

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. craft — boats
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. clip — for paper
  5. scale — size or range
  6. race — humankind
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. craft — a skill
  9. race — the arms race
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. wind — moving air
  12. race — a contest
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. wind — moving air
  18. scale — in music

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