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

Word bank: chest · wind · stem · clip · cold · stick

  1. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wind — moving air
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. stem — to come from
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cold — an illness
  12. clip — for paper
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chest — a box
  17. wind — moving air
  18. stick — a piece of wood

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