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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 120 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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rush — hurry
  3. track — a path
  4. clip — a video
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. row — a line
  7. clip — for paper
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. foot — a measure
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — to cut
  15. row — to paddle
  16. branch — a division
  17. chest — a box
  18. track — to keep track
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. stem — to come from
  22. chest — of your body
  23. track — a song
  24. stem — of a plant

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