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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: wind · bear · pop · drill · clip · hand · row · bowl

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pop — music
  4. row — a line
  5. pop — to visit
  6. drill — a practice
  7. drill — the tool
  8. hand — help
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. clip — a video
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bear — the animal
  16. clip — to cut
  17. row — to paddle
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. drill — army training
  21. pop — soda
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. bear — the animal

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