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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bank · clip · file · march · spring · club · net · pitch

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. club — for dancing
  3. pitch — completely
  4. net — for catching
  5. clip — to cut
  6. club — for golf
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — of water
  10. net — in sport
  11. spring — the season
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bank — for money
  15. march — music
  16. net — after costs
  17. bank — for money
  18. march — the month
  19. club — a group
  20. march — the month
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. clip — a video
  24. bank — of a river

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