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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. spring — of water
  3. hand — help
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. stem — to come from
  6. wound — an injury
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wound — an injury
  10. clip — a video
  11. bat — the animal
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. chair — a leader
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. deal — to handle
  20. clip — to cut
  21. spring — a coil
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. spring — the season
  24. bat — in an idiom

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