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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. sharp — clever
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. kid — child
  7. bear — the animal
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. dip — to sink
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. stem — to come from
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. wound — an injury
  18. clip — to cut
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. clip — a video
  23. wax — to grow
  24. bear — the animal

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