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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: wave · club · clip · wound · lash · fork · wind · object

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. wind — moving air
  3. clip — to cut
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. object — to protest
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. fork — in a road
  10. club — for dancing
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. club — for golf
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wound — an injury
  18. clip — for paper
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. clip — a video
  22. wound — an injury
  23. object — a thing
  24. object — an aim

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