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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · chest · field · present · dip · clip · nail · straw

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. chest — of your body
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. present — a gift
  7. field — for sport
  8. dip — to sink
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. field — a subject
  11. spring — the season
  12. present — the time now
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — of water
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. present — there
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chest — a box
  23. field — farmland
  24. chest — of your body

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