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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. spring — the season
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. march — the month
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. saw — the tool
  11. pound — a weight
  12. spring — a coil
  13. clip — to cut
  14. spring — of water
  15. rush — hurry
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. saw — the tool
  18. clip — a video
  19. stem — to come from
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. clip — for paper
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. rush — a thrill

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