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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: cue · kid · clip · wax · face · fall · kick · content

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. 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. kick — with a leg
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. cue — a hint
  6. content — happy
  7. face — part of the head
  8. cue — for pool
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. cue — a signal
  11. face — to confront
  12. fall — the season
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. face — to point toward
  15. clip — to cut
  16. wax — to grow
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — child
  19. fall — to drop
  20. kick — in football
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. fall — to drop
  23. content — the amount
  24. 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