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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 116 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: craft · hand · mine · clip · spell · spring · pit · stem

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. stem — to come from
  5. pit — a hole
  6. pit — in a race
  7. craft — a skill
  8. clip — a video
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. spell — letters
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mine — for digging
  13. craft — boats
  14. clip — to cut
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. spring — the season
  17. spell — magic
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. hand — help
  20. hand — in cards
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — of water
  23. spell — a short time
  24. hand — 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