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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. season — in sport
  4. prune — to trim
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. game — a match
  7. can — a tin
  8. clip — a video
  9. can — to be able to
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. game — wild animals
  15. can — a tin
  16. tear — from crying
  17. prune — to trim
  18. stem — to come from
  19. tear — to rip
  20. clip — to cut
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wake — a trail
  23. season — of the year
  24. stem — a stem cell

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