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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.

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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: hand · patient · wind · clip · lash · spring · key · toast

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. clip — to cut
  3. wind — moving air
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. clip — a video
  6. spring — a coil
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. key — for a lock
  9. clip — for paper
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. hand — help
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. key — the most important part
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. toast — bread
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. hand — in cards
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. key — in music
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. toast — the most admired

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