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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. spring — a coil
  4. march — the month
  5. kid — to tease
  6. march — the month
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. kick — in football
  9. tube — the underground
  10. tube — a container
  11. shower — to wash
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. spring — the season
  14. wax — to grow
  15. shower — rain
  16. clip — a video
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. march — music
  19. spring — of water
  20. kid — child
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. wax — for sculpting

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