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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: wind · roll · row · clip · saw · kid · root · safe

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. root — of a word
  3. clip — for paper
  4. row — a line
  5. clip — to cut
  6. safe — a strongbox
  7. saw — the tool
  8. roll — a cake
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wind — moving air
  15. root — the cause
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. root — of a plant
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. saw — the tool
  20. kid — child
  21. clip — a video
  22. row — to paddle
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. roll — a list

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