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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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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: last · race · spring · cell · swing · clip · arm · saw

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  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. saw — the tool
  2. race — a contest
  3. clip — for paper
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. spring — the season
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — a video
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. cell — in biology
  10. race — humankind
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — to play on
  13. race — the arms race
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. last — final
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. last — to go on
  18. cell — a phone
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. spring — of water
  21. swing — music
  22. last — finally
  23. saw — the tool
  24. spring — a coil

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