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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: season · kid · stand · shower · clip · present

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. present — a gift
  3. present — the time now
  4. present — there
  5. clip — to cut
  6. season — of the year
  7. clip — for paper
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. shower — to wash
  10. stand — to bear
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. kid — child
  13. season — in sport
  14. kid — to tease
  15. clip — a video
  16. shower — rain
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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