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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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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: drill · mate · trunk · clip · calf · fall · kid · rash

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. drill — the tool
  4. mate — a partner
  5. rash — hasty
  6. clip — to cut
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. drill — army training
  10. fall — the season
  11. clip — a video
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. mate — to breed
  14. fall — to drop
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. fall — to drop
  18. mate — a friend
  19. rash — a series
  20. kid — to tease
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. drill — a practice
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. clip — for paper

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