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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: land · scale · mine · lean · fine · tube · spring · clip

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. spring — the season
  3. scale — in music
  4. clip — a video
  5. land — ground
  6. tube — the underground
  7. scale — size or range
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — to cut
  11. lean — thin
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. lean — to bend
  14. spring — of water
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — all right
  17. mine — for digging
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. land — a country
  21. tube — a container
  22. spring — a coil
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. land — to come down

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