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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: mine · scale · clip · hide · ground · spring · tube · snap

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. scale — size or range
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. clip — to cut
  5. spring — a coil
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. tube — a container
  8. clip — for paper
  9. scale — in music
  10. ground — crushed
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. ground — a position
  17. spring — the season
  18. clip — a video
  19. tube — the underground
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. spring — of water
  22. ground — the earth
  23. mine — for digging
  24. snap — to click

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