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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. cold — an illness
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. fall — to drop
  5. clip — to cut
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. roll — a cake
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. scale — in music
  12. stem — to come from
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. scale — size or range
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. clip — a video
  19. fall — the season
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. fall — to drop
  22. roll — a list
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. clip — for paper

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