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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: present · clip · wind · saw · spring · mate · ball · row

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. clip — a video
  4. present — there
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — to breed
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. saw — the tool
  9. spring — the season
  10. present — the time now
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. ball — a great time
  13. wind — moving air
  14. saw — the tool
  15. row — a line
  16. spring — of water
  17. present — a gift
  18. row — to paddle
  19. mate — a friend
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. clip — to cut
  22. spring — a coil
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wind — moving air

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