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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: clip · kick · stem · bark · face · drill · kid · bore

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  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. stem — to come from
  2. face — to point toward
  3. bore — to tire
  4. bore — to drill
  5. clip — for paper
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. clip — a video
  9. kick — in football
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. face — part of the head
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. kid — to tease
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. face — to confront
  18. bark — to shout
  19. drill — army training
  20. kid — child
  21. drill — a practice
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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