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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. clip — for paper
  4. stem — to come from
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. file — a tool
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — the season
  15. chair — a leader
  16. spring — a coil
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. cold — an illness
  20. file — a line of people
  21. clip — to cut
  22. dip — to sink
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. pitcher — a jug

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