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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. clip — to cut
  3. stem — to come from
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. rest — what's left
  9. kick — in football
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. rest — a break
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. press — to push
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. clip — a video
  16. press — a publisher
  17. clip — for paper
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. date — the fruit
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. press — newspapers
  24. rest — what's left

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