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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 120 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: band · clip · snap · file · rule · kid · current · cap

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. kid — to tease
  3. snap — to click
  4. kid — child
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. band — a music group
  7. current — electric
  8. cap — a lid
  9. band — a ring
  10. cap — of ice
  11. rule — government
  12. file — a line of people
  13. current — happening now
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. rule — a law
  16. cap — a hat
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. clip — for paper
  19. file — a document
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. clip — to cut
  22. current — of water
  23. file — a tool
  24. band — a rubber band

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