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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: hand · scale · tube · bay · spring · wind · clip · nail

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. spring — the season
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. spring — of water
  6. clip — a video
  7. wind — moving air
  8. tube — a container
  9. hand — help
  10. bay — a part of the sea
  11. scale — size or range
  12. wind — moving air
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. spring — a coil
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. scale — in music
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tube — the underground
  24. nail — on a finger

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