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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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 · rock · kid · mine · race · pitcher · spell · rash

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. rock — music
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. mine — for digging
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. kid — child
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. clip — for paper
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. spell — a short time
  12. spell — magic
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — to tease
  15. race — humankind
  16. spell — letters
  17. rash — hasty
  18. race — a contest
  19. clip — a video
  20. race — the arms race
  21. rash — a series
  22. rock — a stone
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. rock — to move gently

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