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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 116 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 spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. swing — music
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. clip — for paper
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. swing — in golf
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — an illness
  15. branch — a division
  16. cold — not warm
  17. craft — boats
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. pound — a weight
  20. pitch — completely
  21. swing — to play on
  22. stem — to come from
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. branch — of a tree

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