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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. wound — an injury
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. degree — from a university
  8. season — of the year
  9. snap — to click
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. clip — a video
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wound — an injury
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. season — in sport
  19. degree — temperature
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. degree — an amount
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. wax — to grow

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