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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 120 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: march · hand · kid · clip · pitcher · spring · kick · saw

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  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 — child
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spring — the season
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. kick — in football
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. clip — a video
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. saw — the tool
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. march — the month
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. spring — a coil
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. clip — to cut
  17. spring — of water
  18. hand — in cards
  19. march — music
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. march — the month
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. hand — help
  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