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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 124 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. kid — child
  3. key — in music
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. clip — to cut
  6. key — for a lock
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bark — to shout
  9. clip — a video
  10. wind — moving air
  11. track — a path
  12. kid — to tease
  13. track — to keep track
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. wind — moving air
  17. hand — help
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. hand — in cards
  21. key — the most important part
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. track — a song
  24. trunk — of a tree

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