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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: board · clip · kid · ground · rock · land · shower · tear

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. board — to get on
  3. kid — to tease
  4. shower — rain
  5. clip — a video
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. ground — crushed
  9. rock — music
  10. rock — a stone
  11. board — a committee
  12. tear — from crying
  13. land — to come down
  14. ground — a position
  15. kid — child
  16. land — ground
  17. ground — the earth
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. land — a country
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. clip — for paper
  22. shower — to wash
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — to rip

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