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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bore · clip · present · kid · pitcher · cold

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bore — to tire
  8. kid — to tease
  9. cold — an illness
  10. present — there
  11. kid — child
  12. present — the time now
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bore — to drill
  17. present — a gift
  18. bore — gave birth

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