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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: spell · club · clip · cold · land · pitch · bear · wound

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. club — a group
  3. land — ground
  4. spell — a short time
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. clip — a video
  9. land — a country
  10. bear — the animal
  11. club — for dancing
  12. spell — letters
  13. club — for golf
  14. clip — for paper
  15. spell — magic
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. land — to come down
  23. pitch — completely
  24. bear — the animal

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