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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. hand — in cards
  3. last — final
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. pop — soda
  7. pop — music
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. last — to go on
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. kid — to tease
  12. clip — for paper
  13. last — finally
  14. stand — to bear
  15. clip — a video
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. kid — child
  18. clip — to cut
  19. kick — in football
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. perch — the fish
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. hand — help

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