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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: clip · pit · bowl · wound · game · dip · land · kid

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. dip — to sink
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. pit — in a race
  7. kid — child
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pit — a hole
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. game — a match
  12. land — a country
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. land — to come down
  18. game — wild animals
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. clip — a video
  22. land — ground
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bowl — a football final

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