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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: kid · plane · wound · clip · rest · pound · tear · rash

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. rash — hasty
  3. wound — an injury
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rest — a break
  8. tear — to rip
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. rash — a series
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. clip — to cut
  14. rest — what's left
  15. wound — an injury
  16. tear — from crying
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. rest — what's left
  22. tear — from crying
  23. pound — a weight
  24. plane — a tool

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