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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · kid · mate · mine · drill · date · hand · branch

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. hand — help
  3. mate — a partner
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. mate — to breed
  6. drill — a practice
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mate — a friend
  9. drill — the tool
  10. branch — a division
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. kid — to tease
  13. date — the fruit
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. kid — child
  18. drill — army training
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. mine — for digging
  22. clip — to cut
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. hand — in cards

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