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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. perch — the fish
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wake — a trail
  8. season — of the year
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. clip — to cut
  12. face — part of the head
  13. face — to confront
  14. degree — from a university
  15. face — to point toward
  16. season — in sport
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. degree — an amount
  19. tube — the underground
  20. clip — a video
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. tube — a container
  24. clip — for paper

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