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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: clip · saw · cap · mate · kid · trunk · content · shower

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. content — happy
  3. cap — of ice
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. cap — a hat
  6. saw — the tool
  7. clip — to cut
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. kid — child
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cap — a lid
  14. shower — to wash
  15. clip — a video
  16. saw — the tool
  17. kid — to tease
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. shower — rain
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. content — the amount
  22. mate — a partner
  23. mate — to breed
  24. trunk — of a tree

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