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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. stem — to come from
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — final
  6. swing — to play on
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. pit — in a race
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. pit — a hole
  12. swing — music
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. clip — a video
  16. bat — the animal
  17. swing — in golf
  18. clip — to cut
  19. last — finally
  20. wound — an injury
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. wound — an injury
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. bat — for baseball

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