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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: clip · pop · tear · cold · pit · kick

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. pop — to visit
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pop — music
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. kick — in football
  11. tear — to rip
  12. pit — a hole
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. pit — in a race
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pop — soda

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