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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. chair — a leader
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bat — the animal
  9. tube — a container
  10. snap — to click
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. stem — to come from
  13. wax — to grow
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. capital — a city
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. tube — the underground
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. capital — money

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