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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 116 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: spring · cold · wax · clip · bowl · net · bark · hide

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. clip — a video
  4. spring — a coil
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. bark — to shout
  7. clip — for paper
  8. spring — the season
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. clip — to cut
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. net — in sport
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. net — for catching
  19. spring — of water
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. net — after costs
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. wax — to grow

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