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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: rock · clip · pound · cold · prune · stem · cell · kick

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. rock — music
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. cell — a phone
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cell — in biology
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. kick — in football
  17. rock — a stone
  18. prune — to trim
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. clip — a video
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. pound — a weight

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