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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: clip · kid · row · kick · chest · nail · root · drill

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. chest — of your body
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. chest — of your body
  7. root — of a plant
  8. row — a line
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. root — of a word
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kid — to tease
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. drill — the tool
  16. kid — child
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — to cut
  19. drill — army training
  20. root — the cause
  21. chest — a box
  22. clip — for paper
  23. row — to paddle
  24. drill — a practice

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