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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 120 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: mine · rash · clip · race · arm · perch · bowl · kid

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. perch — the fish
  4. clip — for paper
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. race — a contest
  12. race — humankind
  13. clip — a video
  14. mine — for digging
  15. rash — hasty
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. race — the arms race
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. clip — to cut
  24. rash — a series

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