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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: kid · clip · straw · lash · net · land · ball · cabinet

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. net — for catching
  4. land — ground
  5. land — to come down
  6. kid — child
  7. net — after costs
  8. clip — to cut
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. net — in sport
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. kid — to tease
  13. land — a country
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. clip — a video
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. ball — a great time
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. clip — for paper
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. ball — a dance

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