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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 120 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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. kid — child
  3. clip — a video
  4. wind — moving air
  5. saw — the tool
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. clip — to cut
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. shower — to wash
  10. saw — the tool
  11. clip — for paper
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bark — to shout
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. shower — rain
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. pound — a weight
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. wind — to turn a key

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