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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. kid — to tease
  4. mug — a face
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cell — in biology
  9. tube — a container
  10. clip — for paper
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. lean — thin
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. march — music
  15. mug — a cup
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. stem — to come from
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. tube — the underground
  20. lean — to bend
  21. kid — child
  22. cell — a phone
  23. march — the month
  24. mug — to rob

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