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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. court — for sport
  5. clip — to cut
  6. court — of law
  7. clip — for paper
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. clip — a video
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. ground — the earth
  13. spring — the season
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. spring — of water
  17. ground — a position
  18. cell — a phone
  19. spring — a coil
  20. tube — a container
  21. court — of a king
  22. stem — to come from
  23. cell — in biology
  24. tube — the underground

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