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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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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: chest · pound · snap · clip · lean · tube · bay · spring

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. tube — the underground
  3. lean — thin
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. clip — a video
  6. chest — of your body
  7. snap — to click
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. chest — of your body
  11. spring — of water
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pound — a weight
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. tube — a container
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. lean — to bend
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. chest — a box
  23. spring — the season
  24. tube — in a tire

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