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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 · club · mouse · race · chair · clip · stand · wind

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. kid — to tease
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. stand — to bear
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. wind — moving air
  8. club — for golf
  9. clip — a video
  10. club — for dancing
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wind — moving air
  13. club — a group
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. race — the arms race
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. chair — a leader
  19. race — humankind
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. race — a contest
  22. kid — child
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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