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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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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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. pitcher — a jug
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. clip — a video
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. kid — child
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. can — a tin
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. ground — crushed
  14. can — a tin
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — moving air
  17. ground — the earth
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. snap — to click
  23. can — to be able to
  24. ground — a position

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