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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: clip · bat · spring · season · mine · vault · pound · file

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. season — in sport
  3. spring — the season
  4. clip — a video
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. file — a document
  8. spring — a coil
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. clip — to cut
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. clip — for paper
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. file — a tool
  18. vault — a safe
  19. pound — a weight
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. bat — the animal
  22. spring — of water
  23. season — of the year
  24. mine — for digging

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