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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: content · chest · patient · clip · stem · mine · kick · deal

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. stem — to come from
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. chest — of your body
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. mine — for digging
  13. clip — a video
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. chest — of your body
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. chest — a box
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. deal — to handle
  21. clip — to cut
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. mine — belonging to me

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