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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 keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. clip — a video
  3. stem — to come from
  4. track — a path
  5. prune — to trim
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. wind — moving air
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. ground — the earth
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. bear — the animal
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. track — a song
  17. ground — crushed
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. wind — moving air
  21. prune — to trim
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. ground — a position

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