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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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468
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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bore — to tire
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a line of people
  6. kid — child
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pit — a hole
  9. fork — in a road
  10. land — a country
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. file — a document
  13. tear — to rip
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. tear — from crying
  16. clip — for paper
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. land — ground
  20. land — to come down
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. clip — a video
  23. bore — to drill
  24. pit — in a race

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