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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 116 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: kid · wake · staff · clip · saw · stem · wound · ground

  1. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. ground — the earth
  3. stem — to come from
  4. staff — employees
  5. ground — crushed
  6. wake — a trail
  7. clip — to cut
  8. kid — child
  9. staff — employees
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. saw — the tool
  13. wound — an injury
  14. saw — the tool
  15. staff — a stick
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. ground — a position
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kid — to tease
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. clip — a video

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