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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 120 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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. bound — certain
  3. bass — low music
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. land — ground
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. bound — obliged
  11. spring — of water
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. spring — the season
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. spring — a coil
  17. clip — to cut
  18. land — a country
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bound — tied together
  21. clip — a video
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bat — the animal
  24. stem — to come from

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