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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. tear — to rip
  6. clip — a video
  7. cell — in biology
  8. cell — a phone
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. band — a ring
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. rush — hurry
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. tear — from crying
  15. kid — to tease
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. tear — from crying
  20. clip — for paper
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. band — a music group

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