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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: chest · straw · scale · wake · clip · mark · roll · kid

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. kid — to tease
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. clip — to cut
  6. kid — child
  7. chest — a box
  8. clip — a video
  9. roll — a list
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wake — a trail
  12. scale — in music
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. roll — a cake
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. scale — size or range
  18. chest — of your body
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. mark — a grade
  22. chest — of your body
  23. mark — a trace
  24. clip — for paper

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