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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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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 · key · straw · deal · shower · spell · wound · kid

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. clip — for paper
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. shower — rain
  8. kid — to tease
  9. key — in music
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. clip — a video
  13. wound — an injury
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — to wash
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. spell — letters
  18. key — for a lock
  19. clip — to cut
  20. key — the most important part
  21. spell — magic
  22. deal — to handle
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. spell — a short time

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