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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: content · cold · wake · stem · clip · swing · cell · cue

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. clip — for paper
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. cue — a hint
  5. clip — to cut
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. content — the amount
  8. cell — a phone
  9. content — happy
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cue — a signal
  12. wake — a trail
  13. clip — a video
  14. cell — in biology
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cue — for pool
  20. swing — to play on
  21. stem — to come from
  22. swing — in golf
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — of a plant

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