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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. content — happy
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. stem — to come from
  5. cell — in biology
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — from a university
  9. content — the amount
  10. clip — to cut
  11. pitch — completely
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. land — a country
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cell — a phone
  24. degree — an amount

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