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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: branch · wake · arm · stem · sharp · game · clip · bat

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. sharp — clever
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. wake — a trail
  7. game — a match
  8. branch — a division
  9. clip — to cut
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. clip — for paper
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. clip — a video
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. game — wild animals
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. stem — to come from
  24. arm — part of the body

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