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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: spring · date · spell · clip · press · cold · cabinet · last

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. last — to go on
  4. spring — the season
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. spring — of water
  7. spell — letters
  8. spring — a coil
  9. clip — a video
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. spell — magic
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. last — final
  17. clip — to cut
  18. press — to push
  19. last — finally
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. press — a publisher
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. spell — a short time
  24. date — the fruit

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