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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. clip — a video
  3. lean — thin
  4. sharp — clever
  5. clip — for paper
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. race — a contest
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — music
  10. chest — a box
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chest — of your body
  13. swing — to play on
  14. lean — to bend
  15. race — the arms race
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. clip — to cut
  19. root — of a plant
  20. race — humankind
  21. chest — of your body
  22. root — the cause
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. prune — to trim

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