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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · kid · squash · pop · pass · spring · bat · row

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pop — to visit
  3. pass — a permit
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. row — a line
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. row — to paddle
  10. spring — a coil
  11. pop — soda
  12. clip — a video
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. squash — the sport
  15. clip — to cut
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. squash — to crush
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. spring — of water
  23. pop — music
  24. spring — the season

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