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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 120 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 · straw · bulb · net · fork · cue · kick · shower

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. cue — a signal
  3. bulb — for light
  4. bulb — for light
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. cue — a hint
  9. clip — a video
  10. net — for catching
  11. shower — rain
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. shower — to wash
  16. clip — to cut
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. fork — in a road
  20. net — in sport
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cue — for pool
  24. kick — in football

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