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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: spring · hide · current · wave · kick · wound · chest · clip

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. clip — for paper
  6. current — of water
  7. clip — a video
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. spring — of water
  10. chest — a box
  11. spring — a coil
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. current — happening now
  14. kick — in football
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. spring — the season
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. clip — to cut
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. current — electric

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