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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: clip · drill · season · hand · board · pit · mine · chip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. season — of the year
  3. season — in sport
  4. pit — in a race
  5. hand — in cards
  6. pit — a hole
  7. chip — to eat
  8. board — a committee
  9. drill — army training
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. clip — a video
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. clip — to cut
  18. chip — for betting
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. hand — help
  21. board — to get on
  22. drill — a practice
  23. mine — for digging
  24. drill — the tool

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