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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: cue · cold · object · spring · wind · calf · clip · trunk

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. spring — of water
  5. cold — an illness
  6. object — to protest
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. cue — for pool
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. object — an aim
  12. cue — a signal
  13. cue — a hint
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spring — the season
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. clip — to cut
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. object — a thing
  21. clip — for paper
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. cold — not warm
  24. clip — a video

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