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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. hand — in cards
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bass — the fish
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. kid — child
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. kick — in football
  18. clip — a video
  19. hand — help
  20. bass — low music
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — for baseball

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