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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 124 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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. roll — a cake
  3. spell — a short time
  4. clip — to cut
  5. stem — to come from
  6. capital — money
  7. board — to get on
  8. spell — letters
  9. clip — for paper
  10. last — to go on
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. last — finally
  14. capital — a city
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. last — final
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. board — a committee
  19. clip — a video
  20. pound — a weight
  21. roll — a list
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. stem — a stem cell

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