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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. stem — to come from
  3. clip — to cut
  4. prune — to trim
  5. pitch — completely
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. chest — of your body
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. cell — in biology
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cap — a hat
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. cap — of ice
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rest — a break
  17. chest — of your body
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cap — a lid
  23. clip — a video
  24. prune — to trim

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