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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: stem · game · clip · sharp · racket · wound · hand · pitcher

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. sharp — clever
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. clip — to cut
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. wound — an injury
  16. clip — a video
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. game — a match
  19. clip — for paper
  20. game — wild animals
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. hand — help
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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