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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: wound · bear · clip · spring · swing · kid · drill · calf

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. swing — music
  3. drill — army training
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bear — the animal
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. spring — the season
  8. kid — child
  9. bear — the animal
  10. drill — a practice
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. clip — a video
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. clip — for paper
  15. swing — in golf
  16. kid — to tease
  17. swing — to play on
  18. clip — to cut
  19. spring — a coil
  20. drill — the tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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