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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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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: spell · lean · stem · press · game · chest · deal · clip

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. spell — letters
  4. stem — to come from
  5. press — to push
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. clip — to cut
  9. chest — a box
  10. press — newspapers
  11. clip — a video
  12. press — a publisher
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. game — wild animals
  15. lean — to bend
  16. game — a match
  17. deal — to handle
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. spell — a short time
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chest — of your body
  23. spell — magic
  24. chest — of your 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