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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: root · kid · clip · drill · rest · bay · spell · cap

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. My mare is ________________ in color.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. spell — letters
  3. clip — for paper
  4. root — of a word
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. cap — of ice
  7. bay — a horse colour
  8. rest — a break
  9. clip — a video
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. cap — a hat
  13. drill — a practice
  14. clip — to cut
  15. root — of a plant
  16. cap — a lid
  17. spell — a short time
  18. root — the cause
  19. drill — army training
  20. drill — the tool
  21. spell — magic
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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