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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. pass — a permit
  4. stem — to come from
  5. cold — an illness
  6. clip — for paper
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. row — a line
  10. clip — to cut
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. plane — a tool
  13. squash — to crush
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. season — in sport
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — a video
  20. row — to paddle
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. season — of the year
  24. row — a quarrel

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