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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 116 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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. cell — a phone
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a city
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. clip — a video
  7. club — for dancing
  8. spell — letters
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. rest — what's left
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cell — in biology
  16. clip — for paper
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. rest — what's left
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. rest — a break
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. clip — to cut
  24. club — for golf

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