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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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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: race · cell · spring · clip · roll · bat · tube · snap

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. spring — the season
  3. roll — a cake
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — to cut
  8. tube — the underground
  9. spring — of water
  10. race — a contest
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. tube — a container
  15. snap — to click
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. roll — a list
  19. clip — for paper
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — humankind
  23. clip — a video
  24. bat — the animal

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