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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. bore — to drill
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. bark — to shout
  6. perch — the fish
  7. tube — a container
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bore — to tire
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. kid — child
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. clip — a video
  16. tear — to rip
  17. deal — to handle
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — to cut
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. tear — from crying

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