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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: clip · tube · pound · vault · hide · rock · kid · row

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. tube — the underground
  3. rock — music
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. rock — a stone
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. kid — to tease
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — for paper
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. clip — to cut
  18. row — a line
  19. vault — a safe
  20. tube — a container
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. kid — child
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. row — to paddle

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