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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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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: last · tear · mug · chair · file · clip · stem · snap

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. tear — from crying
  5. file — a document
  6. snap — to click
  7. chair — a leader
  8. stem — to come from
  9. mug — a face
  10. mug — to rob
  11. mug — a cup
  12. clip — for paper
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. clip — to cut
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. file — a line of people
  21. clip — a video
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. last — finally
  24. file — a tool

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