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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. stem — to come from
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. clip — a video
  5. game — wild animals
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. capital — money
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. march — the month
  14. clip — to cut
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. capital — a city
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. clip — for paper
  21. game — a match
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. march — music
  24. leaves — of a tree

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