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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. wound — an injury
  4. rash — a series
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spell — a short time
  8. cold — not warm
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. bound — certain
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. bound — tied together
  14. spell — letters
  15. stem — to come from
  16. bound — obliged
  17. spell — magic
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. rash — hasty
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. clip — a video
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cold — an illness
  24. stem — of a plant

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