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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. spring — a coil
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. clip — a video
  7. stem — to come from
  8. cap — a hat
  9. clip — for paper
  10. cap — of ice
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. board — to get on
  14. bat — the animal
  15. cap — a lid
  16. wind — moving air
  17. clip — to cut
  18. spring — of water
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. board — a committee
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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