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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
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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: hand · key · clip · bound · cold · spell · race · mate

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bound — obliged
  3. hand — in cards
  4. race — humankind
  5. hand — help
  6. mate — a partner
  7. mate — a friend
  8. race — a contest
  9. key — for a lock
  10. key — the most important part
  11. spell — magic
  12. race — the arms race
  13. key — in music
  14. mate — to breed
  15. spell — a short time
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bound — tied together
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bound — certain
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. clip — to cut
  23. spell — letters
  24. clip — a video

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