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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: race · pop · bear · calf · spring · rash · clip · cold

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. bear — the animal
  4. pop — music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. race — the arms race
  7. rash — hasty
  8. pop — to visit
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spring — a coil
  12. pop — soda
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bear — the animal
  16. spring — of water
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — the season
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. clip — a video
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. race — humankind
  23. rash — a series
  24. race — a contest

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