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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. clip — for paper
  3. wake — a trail
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. stem — to come from
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. pass — a permit
  10. capital — a city
  11. key — the most important part
  12. chest — a box
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. cold — an illness
  15. key — for a lock
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. key — in music
  18. capital — money
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cold — the Cold War

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