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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: fan · spring · cold · swing · net · kick · mark · clip

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. spring — the season
  3. kick — in football
  4. clip — for paper
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — a video
  8. net — for catching
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. net — in sport
  12. mark — a grade
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. spring — of water
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mark — a trace
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. clip — to cut
  22. swing — music
  23. net — after costs
  24. swing — in golf

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