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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bore — to tire
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. spring — a coil
  6. field — for sport
  7. clip — a video
  8. field — a subject
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. press — a publisher
  11. march — music
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. spring — of water
  14. field — farmland
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. march — the month
  17. press — newspapers
  18. date — the fruit
  19. spring — the season
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. press — to push
  22. stem — to come from
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bore — to drill

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