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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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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: bat · march · tear · fall · clip · patient · scale · stem

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. tear — to rip
  3. scale — size or range
  4. clip — a video
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. scale — in music
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bat — the animal
  10. tear — from crying
  11. fall — the season
  12. march — the month
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. march — the month
  15. fall — to drop
  16. clip — to cut
  17. march — music
  18. fall — to drop
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. tear — from crying
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. bat — in an idiom

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