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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: clip · pound · staff · bear · board · tear · cold · wound

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. clip — a video
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. pound — a weight
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bear — the animal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. board — to get on
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wound — an injury
  14. staff — employees
  15. clip — to cut
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. bear — the animal
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. board — a committee
  22. tear — from crying
  23. staff — employees
  24. wound — an injury

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