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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. pound — a weight
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. net — in sport
  6. current — of water
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. net — for catching
  9. hand — in cards
  10. clip — a video
  11. stem — to come from
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. current — happening now
  14. sharp — clever
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. hand — help
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. current — electric
  22. net — after costs
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — child

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