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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. tear — from crying
  4. present — the time now
  5. clip — for paper
  6. chest — a box
  7. clip — a video
  8. chest — of your body
  9. file — a tool
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. file — a line of people
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. stem — to come from
  14. tear — to rip
  15. squash — to crush
  16. present — there
  17. chest — of your body
  18. squash — the sport
  19. wake — a trail
  20. tear — from crying
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. file — a document
  24. present — a gift

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