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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. lean — to bend
  3. mine — for digging
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. bat — the animal
  6. squash — the sport
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. clip — a video
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. lean — thin
  13. stem — to come from
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. pass — a permit
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. clip — for paper
  20. squash — to crush
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. dip — to sink

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