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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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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: clip · bark · spring · present · fine · mate · bass · wound

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. wound — an injury
  3. present — a gift
  4. mate — a friend
  5. present — there
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. spring — of water
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bass — the fish
  10. mate — to breed
  11. bark — to shout
  12. clip — to cut
  13. mate — a partner
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. clip — a video
  16. fine — high quality
  17. present — the time now
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. bass — low music
  20. wound — an injury
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fine — all right
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. spring — the season

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