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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: season · rock · pound · spring · clip · bat · hand · firm

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. clip — to cut
  4. spring — a coil
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. clip — a video
  8. spring — the season
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. hand — in cards
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. firm — decided
  14. rock — a stone
  15. season — of the year
  16. rock — music
  17. bat — the animal
  18. spring — of water
  19. firm — steady
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. firm — a company
  22. pound — a weight
  23. hand — help
  24. clip — for paper

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