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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: mug · land · wind · cabinet · row · mark · kid · clip

  1. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. kid — child
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. land — to come down
  5. row — a line
  6. wind — moving air
  7. mug — to rob
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. mug — a cup
  10. mark — a grade
  11. land — a country
  12. land — ground
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — a video
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. kid — to tease
  19. clip — to cut
  20. mark — a trace
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. wind — moving air
  24. row — to paddle

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