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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: kid · bat · clip · bear · wake · spell · pound · rock

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. kid — child
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. clip — to cut
  8. spell — a short time
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. spell — letters
  11. bear — the animal
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. rock — music
  14. bear — the animal
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. kid — to tease
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. rock — a stone
  21. clip — for paper
  22. pound — a weight
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — a video

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