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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · kid · stem · bowl · chair · clip

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. kid — to tease
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. stem — to come from
  7. tear — from crying
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. tear — from crying
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chair — a leader
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. tear — to rip
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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