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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: stem · game · mine · clip · bank · straw · rash · spring

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. bank — for money
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. rash — hasty
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. game — wild animals
  8. spring — of water
  9. rash — a series
  10. bank — of a river
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. spring — the season
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. clip — to cut
  16. mine — for digging
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. stem — to come from
  19. clip — for paper
  20. game — a match
  21. clip — a video
  22. bank — for money
  23. game — a kind of play
  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