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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: charge · wind · pound · clip · kid · row · rest · chip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. rest — a break
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. rest — what's left
  6. chip — for betting
  7. rest — what's left
  8. kid — child
  9. kid — to tease
  10. clip — a video
  11. row — a line
  12. wind — moving air
  13. charge — electricity
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. charge — a price
  16. wind — moving air
  17. chip — to eat
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. charge — in control
  20. pound — a weight
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wind — to turn a key

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