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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. rush — hurry
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wake — a trail
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. kid — to tease
  8. stem — to come from
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cold — not warm
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pop — music
  16. kid — child
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. march — the month
  19. clip — a video
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pop — soda
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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