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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. clip — for paper
  3. season — of the year
  4. clip — to cut
  5. season — in sport
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. clip — a video
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. present — a gift
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. scale — in music
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. present — the time now
  21. stem — to come from
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. present — there
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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