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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. race — a contest
  4. chest — a box
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. stem — to come from
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — a video
  10. race — humankind
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. rock — music
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. clip — for paper
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. rock — a stone
  17. cold — not warm
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — to cut
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. race — the arms race
  23. fan — a supporter
  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