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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: staff · season · spring · clip · leaves · band · pound · row

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. clip — to cut
  3. staff — a stick
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. season — in sport
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. staff — employees
  8. spring — the season
  9. pound — a weight
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — for paper
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — a coil
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. row — a line
  19. staff — employees
  20. row — to paddle
  21. band — a ring
  22. season — of the year
  23. band — a music group
  24. leaves — lets stay

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