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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: wound · hide · clip · spring · fork · mouse · march · cell

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. wound — an injury
  4. march — the month
  5. cell — a phone
  6. march — the month
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. march — music
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. fork — in a road
  12. clip — for paper
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — a coil
  15. cell — in biology
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. clip — a video
  24. spring — the season

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