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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: scale · last · race · clip · kid · hand · snap · vault

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. last — to go on
  3. clip — to cut
  4. hand — in cards
  5. clip — for paper
  6. last — final
  7. snap — to click
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. race — humankind
  10. last — finally
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. race — a contest
  13. scale — size or range
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. race — the arms race
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. kid — to tease
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. hand — help
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. clip — a video
  23. scale — in music
  24. vault — a safe

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