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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 · chest · stick · wind · wake · pitcher · kid · board

  1. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. wake — a trail
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. wind — moving air
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. board — to get on
  10. clip — for paper
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. chest — of your body
  13. board — a committee
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. kid — child
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. clip — to cut
  18. kid — to tease
  19. chest — a box
  20. clip — a video
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. chest — of your body
  24. wind — moving air

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