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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 · swing · calf · file · fine · pop · bound · clip

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. fine — all right
  3. fine — high quality
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. swing — in golf
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. bound — tied together
  9. file — a line of people
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. clip — a video
  12. swing — to play on
  13. pop — soda
  14. pop — music
  15. spring — the season
  16. clip — to cut
  17. swing — music
  18. file — a tool
  19. spring — of water
  20. file — a document
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bound — certain
  23. pop — to visit
  24. spring — a coil

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