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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: board · bore · object · cold · saw · dip · clip · spring

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  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. object — to protest
  3. saw — the tool
  4. object — a thing
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. board — to get on
  7. object — an aim
  8. clip — to cut
  9. dip — to sink
  10. board — a committee
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. spring — of water
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bore — to drill
  15. cold — not warm
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cold — an illness
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bore — to tire
  21. spring — the season
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  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