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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: clip · mine · firm · content · bat · spring · patient · tube

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bat — the animal
  3. tube — a container
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. spring — the season
  8. firm — decided
  9. spring — of water
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. content — the amount
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. firm — a company
  16. clip — to cut
  17. firm — steady
  18. content — happy
  19. spring — a coil
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. clip — for paper
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. clip — a video
  24. tube — the underground

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