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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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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: sharp · wind · stem · wax · mate · branch · kick · bat

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. mate — a partner
  7. bat — the animal
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. mate — to breed
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. sharp — clever
  15. kick — in football
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. branch — a division
  19. mate — a friend
  20. wind — moving air
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. wax — to grow
  24. sharp — with an edge

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