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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: clip · drill · stem · cell · game · cold · fall · wave

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cell — in biology
  3. fall — to drop
  4. drill — the tool
  5. stem — to come from
  6. fall — the season
  7. clip — for paper
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. drill — a practice
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. cell — a phone
  16. clip — a video
  17. fall — to drop
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. clip — to cut
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. drill — army training
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. game — a match

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