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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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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 · fork · race · mine · present · pound

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. clip — for paper
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. race — humankind
  5. pound — a weight
  6. present — a gift
  7. mine — for digging
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. clip — to cut
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. race — a contest
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. race — the arms race
  15. present — the time now
  16. fork — in a road
  17. present — there
  18. clip — a video

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