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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: tear · clip · wound · hand · key · kick · march · rest

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. march — music
  4. rest — a break
  5. key — the most important part
  6. march — the month
  7. tear — from crying
  8. rest — what's left
  9. hand — in cards
  10. wound — an injury
  11. tear — to rip
  12. key — in music
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — a video
  15. march — the month
  16. tear — from crying
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. kick — in football
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — for paper
  23. hand — help
  24. key — for a lock

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