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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. deal — to handle
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. pit — a hole
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. chip — to eat
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cell — a phone
  13. pit — in a race
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bat — the animal
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. clip — a video
  20. chip — for betting
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. wound — an injury
  23. stem — to come from
  24. deal — an agreement

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