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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. clip — to cut
  3. chest — of your body
  4. band — a ring
  5. spell — letters
  6. spell — a short time
  7. clip — a video
  8. band — a music group
  9. chest — of your body
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. stem — to come from
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. spell — magic
  14. degree — temperature
  15. clip — for paper
  16. degree — an amount
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. chest — a box
  19. staff — employees
  20. staff — employees
  21. staff — a stick
  22. degree — from a university
  23. cap — a lid
  24. cap — a hat

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