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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: last · race · spring · cell · swing · clip

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. race — a contest
  3. clip — a video
  4. swing — in golf
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cell — in biology
  7. last — final
  8. spring — the season
  9. last — to go on
  10. spring — a coil
  11. clip — to cut
  12. spring — of water
  13. swing — to play on
  14. race — humankind
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. last — finally
  17. clip — for paper
  18. race — the arms race

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