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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 120 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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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: pound · craft · clip · bowl · fork · spring · cold · press

  1. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. cold — not warm
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. fork — in a road
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. press — newspapers
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. spring — the season
  12. press — to push
  13. pound — a weight
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — of water
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. press — a publisher
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. craft — boats
  21. craft — a skill
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — a video
  24. pound — for dogs

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