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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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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: pound · cell · rule · snap · clip · spring

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. rule — a law
  4. snap — to click
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. cell — a phone
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. clip — to cut
  13. rule — government
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — of water
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology

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