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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: wind · straw · season · face · wave · club · spring · clip

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. face — to point toward
  3. clip — a video
  4. club — for dancing
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — the season
  8. wind — moving air
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. face — to confront
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. wind — moving air
  15. season — in sport
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. clip — for paper
  18. spring — of water
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. season — of the year
  21. face — part of the head
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. club — for golf

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