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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. wind — moving air
  4. hand — in cards
  5. content — happy
  6. drill — the tool
  7. bark — to shout
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. kid — child
  11. content — the amount
  12. hand — help
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — a break
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. drill — a practice
  18. drill — army training
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. rest — what's left
  21. kid — to tease
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. wind — moving air

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