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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mark — a trace
  4. mark — a grade
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. chest — of your body
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. hand — in cards
  10. clip — a video
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. chest — a box
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. hand — help
  21. clip — for paper
  22. stem — to come from
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. stem — a stem cell

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