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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.

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: spell · land · can · march · staff · straw · spring · clip

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. spell — a short time
  3. clip — a video
  4. land — a country
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. spring — of water
  7. can — to be able to
  8. spring — the season
  9. spell — magic
  10. clip — to cut
  11. staff — employees
  12. staff — employees
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. can — a tin
  15. spell — letters
  16. land — to come down
  17. march — music
  18. clip — for paper
  19. staff — a stick
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. can — a tin
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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