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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: kid · clip · pit · pound · land · shower · pitcher · wind

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. shower — rain
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pit — in a race
  5. wind — moving air
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. land — ground
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. clip — a video
  11. pit — a hole
  12. kid — to tease
  13. wind — moving air
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. kid — child
  16. shower — to wash
  17. land — to come down
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. clip — for paper
  22. pound — a weight
  23. land — a country
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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