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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 116 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: leaves · row · craft · band · clip · cap · mine · wound

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. band — a music group
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. wound — an injury
  6. clip — for paper
  7. cap — a hat
  8. mine — for digging
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. cap — a lid
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. cap — of ice
  15. craft — a skill
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. row — to paddle
  19. wound — an injury
  20. clip — a video
  21. band — a ring
  22. row — a line
  23. clip — to cut
  24. band — a rubber band

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