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

Word bank: wound · club · kid · shower · foot · clip

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. clip — to cut
  4. wound — an injury
  5. shower — to wash
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. club — for dancing
  9. club — a group
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — for paper
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. shower — rain
  16. club — for golf
  17. foot — a measure
  18. kid — child

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