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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 · stem · clip · hand · chip · wind · craft · degree

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. clip — for paper
  4. stem — to come from
  5. wind — moving air
  6. craft — a skill
  7. spell — a short time
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. hand — in cards
  10. craft — boats
  11. degree — temperature
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. clip — a video
  16. spell — magic
  17. clip — to cut
  18. chip — for betting
  19. degree — from a university
  20. chip — to eat
  21. hand — help
  22. spell — letters
  23. degree — an amount
  24. chip — in a computer

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