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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 · rush · ground · squash · fall · clip · tear · fork

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. squash — the sport
  3. spring — the season
  4. spring — of water
  5. clip — for paper
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. fall — to drop
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. ground — crushed
  10. tear — from crying
  11. ground — the earth
  12. spring — a coil
  13. tear — from crying
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. ground — a position
  19. fall — the season
  20. fork — in a road
  21. clip — a video
  22. rush — hurry
  23. tear — to rip
  24. clip — to cut

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