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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. tear — from crying
  6. capital — a city
  7. fall — to drop
  8. pit — in a race
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. mate — a partner
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. mate — to breed
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. pit — a hole
  15. mate — a friend
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bark — to shout
  18. clip — for paper
  19. tear — to rip
  20. fall — the season
  21. stem — to come from
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. capital — money

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