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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: bowl · kid · roll · dip · straw · mate · clip · tear

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. kid — child
  5. tear — to rip
  6. mate — to breed
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. clip — a video
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mate — a friend
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. clip — to cut
  14. roll — a list
  15. clip — for paper
  16. kid — to tease
  17. roll — a cake
  18. dip — to sink
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. mate — a partner

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