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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. clip — for paper
  4. track — to keep track
  5. rule — a law
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. clip — a video
  8. stem — to come from
  9. bat — the animal
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. branch — a division
  12. pop — to visit
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. rule — government
  16. snap — to click
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pop — music
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. track — a song
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. track — a path

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