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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: pound · clip · wake · content · bear · spring · bat · current

  1. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. content — happy
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. spring — a coil
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. clip — to cut
  9. pound — a weight
  10. current — electric
  11. content — the amount
  12. clip — a video
  13. spring — the season
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bear — the animal
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. bear — the animal
  18. spring — of water
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. current — happening now
  24. wake — a trail

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