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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. chest — of your body
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. clip — to cut
  5. wound — an injury
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. march — music
  8. wound — an injury
  9. stem — to come from
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. clip — for paper
  13. march — the month
  14. clip — a video
  15. date — the fruit
  16. march — the month
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. rash — a series
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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