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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. clip — a video
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. stem — to come from
  5. field — farmland
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cue — a hint
  10. clip — for paper
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — for digging
  17. cue — a signal
  18. field — a subject
  19. cue — for pool
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. field — for sport
  22. clip — to cut
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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