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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.

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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: ball · scale · patient · cap · spring · clip · face · chip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. face — to confront
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. ball — a dance
  5. cap — a hat
  6. chip — for betting
  7. spring — a coil
  8. clip — to cut
  9. cap — of ice
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. clip — a video
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. chip — to eat
  17. face — part of the head
  18. cap — a lid
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. scale — in music
  22. face — to point toward
  23. ball — a great time
  24. scale — size or range

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