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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — for paper
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — to come from
  6. swing — music
  7. swing — in golf
  8. hand — in cards
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. drill — the tool
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. wax — to grow
  15. drill — army training
  16. swing — to play on
  17. scale — size or range
  18. scale — in music
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. band — a music group
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. band — a ring
  24. clip — a video

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