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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. ball — a dance
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. clip — for paper
  6. ball — a great time
  7. wound — an injury
  8. rash — a series
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — a video
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. plane — a tool
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. row — a line
  18. stem — to come from
  19. rash — hasty
  20. row — to paddle
  21. wound — an injury
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. dip — to sink
  24. dip — to dunk

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