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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 120 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 · mate · root · chest · race · scale · arm · clip

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. mate — a friend
  3. chest — of your body
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — a video
  7. race — humankind
  8. race — the arms race
  9. chest — of your body
  10. scale — in music
  11. clip — to cut
  12. mate — a partner
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. root — of a plant
  15. spring — of water
  16. clip — for paper
  17. spring — the season
  18. root — the cause
  19. mate — to breed
  20. race — a contest
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. root — of a word
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. scale — size or range

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