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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. hand — in cards
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. saw — the tool
  7. clip — to cut
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. saw — the tool
  12. track — a song
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. stem — to come from
  15. track — to keep track
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. clip — a video
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. tear — from crying
  21. plane — a tool
  22. bat — the animal
  23. clip — for paper
  24. track — a path

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