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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: shower · kick · file · clip · bay · race

  1. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. clip — for paper
  4. file — a line of people
  5. race — humankind
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. race — the arms race
  8. shower — to wash
  9. race — a contest
  10. file — a document
  11. clip — to cut
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. file — a tool
  14. shower — rain
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. clip — a video
  17. kick — in football
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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