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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spring · field · fine · clip · net · mine · wind · pop

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. net — in sport
  3. wind — moving air
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. fine — high quality
  7. net — for catching
  8. field — farmland
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. clip — for paper
  12. field — a subject
  13. mine — for digging
  14. spring — the season
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. field — for sport
  17. spring — a coil
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. pop — music
  20. spring — of water
  21. pop — to visit
  22. net — after costs
  23. wind — moving air
  24. fine — all right

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