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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: kid · drill · clip · pop · bark · pit · row · lean

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. pop — to visit
  7. clip — a video
  8. row — a line
  9. pop — soda
  10. pit — a hole
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. drill — army training
  14. pop — music
  15. lean — thin
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. pit — in a race
  18. lean — to bend
  19. drill — a practice
  20. drill — the tool
  21. kid — child
  22. row — to paddle
  23. clip — for paper
  24. row — a quarrel

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