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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: land · clip · kick · swing · current · cell · spell · tube

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. spell — letters
  3. tube — the underground
  4. current — electric
  5. clip — a video
  6. swing — in golf
  7. land — to come down
  8. current — happening now
  9. current — of water
  10. tube — a container
  11. spell — a short time
  12. clip — for paper
  13. kick — in football
  14. cell — a phone
  15. land — a country
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. swing — to play on
  21. spell — magic
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. clip — to cut
  24. swing — music

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