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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: mark · spring · face · sharp · scale · fork · mine · clip

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. mine — for digging
  3. clip — to cut
  4. scale — in music
  5. scale — size or range
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. face — to confront
  8. sharp — clever
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. spring — a coil
  11. face — to point toward
  12. mark — a trace
  13. fork — in a road
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — the season
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. face — part of the head
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. clip — for paper
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. mark — a grade

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