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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: bound · straw · clip · wax · patient · spring · rule · land

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. land — to come down
  4. spring — a coil
  5. land — ground
  6. rule — government
  7. clip — to cut
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wax — to grow
  13. spring — the season
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — for paper
  18. bound — tied together
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. bound — obliged
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bound — certain
  23. rule — a law
  24. land — a country

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