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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 · root · wind · band · face · pound · sharp · shower

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. face — to point toward
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. band — a ring
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. band — a music group
  9. face — part of the head
  10. wind — moving air
  11. face — to confront
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pound — a weight
  14. sharp — clever
  15. clip — for paper
  16. root — the cause
  17. clip — to cut
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — rain
  21. root — of a plant
  22. root — of a word
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. pound — for dogs

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