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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 120 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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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: cold · clip · last · wake · bowl · track · bulb · kick

  1. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bulb — for light
  5. clip — a video
  6. last — to go on
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. track — to keep track
  10. cold — not warm
  11. kick — in football
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. last — final
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. bulb — for light
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. wake — a trail
  20. track — a song
  21. last — finally
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. track — a path
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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