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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 · mine · kick · deal · straw · kid · sharp · last

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. kid — to tease
  3. last — finally
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. last — to go on
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. clip — to cut
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. last — final
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. sharp — clever
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. deal — to handle
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. kid — child
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. mine — for digging
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kick — in football

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