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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. clip — to cut
  4. kid — to tease
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. shower — to wash
  8. kid — child
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. key — in music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. shower — rain
  15. key — the most important part
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. key — for a lock
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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