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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — for paper
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. rush — hurry
  6. present — the time now
  7. present — a gift
  8. present — there
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. clip — a video
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. date — the fruit
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. wind — moving air
  21. stem — to come from
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. stem — of a plant

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