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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cap — a hat
  3. stem — to come from
  4. swing — music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. cell — a phone
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. stock — shares
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. swing — to play on
  14. cap — of ice
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — a video
  19. tear — from crying
  20. clip — to cut
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. stock — goods
  23. cell — in biology
  24. swing — in golf

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