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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 120 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: clip · pound · cell · kid · snap · cap

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. cap — a hat
  4. kid — to tease
  5. pound — a weight
  6. clip — for paper
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. cap — of ice
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. cap — a lid
  11. kid — child
  12. cell — a phone
  13. snap — to click
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cell — in biology
  18. clip — to cut

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