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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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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: hand · clip · kid · bound · present · bear · vault · row

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  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. present — a gift
  2. bear — the animal
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bear — the animal
  5. row — a line
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. present — the time now
  8. clip — to cut
  9. row — to paddle
  10. bound — obliged
  11. vault — a safe
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. present — there
  15. kid — child
  16. bound — tied together
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. clip — a video
  21. hand — help
  22. bound — certain
  23. kid — to tease
  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