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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: racket · clip · kid · fall · wind · snap

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. kid — child
  3. clip — to cut
  4. wind — moving air
  5. kid — to tease
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. fall — to drop
  10. clip — for paper
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. fall — the season
  15. fall — to drop
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. snap — to click
  18. clip — a video

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