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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. chest — of your body
  5. kid — child
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — a video
  8. face — part of the head
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. stem — to come from
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. face — to point toward
  13. chest — a box
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. shower — rain
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. clip — for paper
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. shower — to wash
  20. face — to confront
  21. kid — to tease
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. dip — to sink

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