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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 116 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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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: clip · spring · club · fork · rest · bay · branch · game

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — for paper
  3. club — a group
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. game — wild animals
  6. rest — a break
  7. club — for dancing
  8. spring — of water
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. clip — a video
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. club — for golf
  14. rest — what's left
  15. branch — a division
  16. spring — a coil
  17. game — a match
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. spring — the season
  20. fork — in a road
  21. rest — what's left
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. branch — of a bank

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