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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. spring — a coil
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. clip — a video
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. spring — the season
  7. cold — not warm
  8. saw — the tool
  9. mark — a trace
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. bat — the animal
  13. saw — the tool
  14. cold — an illness
  15. spring — of water
  16. pop — music
  17. mark — a grade
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pop — soda
  21. stem — to come from
  22. clip — for paper
  23. pop — to visit
  24. cold — the Cold War

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