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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: fall · shower · cap · racket · row · bear · kick · clip

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bear — the animal
  3. clip — a video
  4. kick — in football
  5. row — a line
  6. clip — to cut
  7. shower — rain
  8. fall — to drop
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cap — of ice
  12. bear — the animal
  13. cap — a lid
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. clip — for paper
  16. row — to paddle
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. cap — a hat
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. shower — to wash
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. fall — the season
  24. racket — for tennis

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