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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. clip — to cut
  3. rush — hurry
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. degree — temperature
  6. prune — to trim
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. prune — to trim
  9. last — to go on
  10. present — the time now
  11. clip — a video
  12. bore — to tire
  13. last — finally
  14. last — final
  15. present — there
  16. bore — to drill
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. stem — to come from
  21. clip — for paper
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. degree — from a university
  24. degree — an amount

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