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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tube — the underground
  5. root — of a word
  6. clip — to cut
  7. root — the cause
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. clip — a video
  10. degree — an amount
  11. root — of a plant
  12. degree — from a university
  13. tear — to rip
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. degree — temperature
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. tube — a container
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. snap — to click
  20. lean — to bend
  21. stem — to come from
  22. lean — thin
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stem — of a plant

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