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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: wind · clip · club · pound · tear · cabinet

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. clip — to cut
  5. tear — to rip
  6. club — a group
  7. pound — a weight
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wind — moving air
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. club — for golf
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. clip — a video
  18. pound — to hit hard

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