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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: key · clip · kick · fan · tear · cap · kid · season

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — a lid
  3. key — for a lock
  4. season — of the year
  5. cap — of ice
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. clip — to cut
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. key — the most important part
  17. clip — for paper
  18. kick — in football
  19. kid — to tease
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. season — in sport
  22. clip — a video
  23. key — in music
  24. kid — child

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