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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 116 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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. band — a music group
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. band — a ring
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. cold — not warm
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. wake — a trail
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. net — in sport
  14. clip — for paper
  15. net — after costs
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — to cut
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. net — for catching
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. wake — before a funeral

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