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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. saw — the tool
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. degree — from a university
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. wake — a trail
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. prune — to trim
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. degree — an amount
  14. prune — to trim
  15. clip — a video
  16. stem — to come from
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. degree — temperature
  19. clip — for paper
  20. saw — the tool
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. clip — to cut

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