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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: field · stick · spring · stem · content · row · clip · bay

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. My mare is ________________ in color.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bay — to keep at bay
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. row — a line
  6. field — farmland
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. clip — for paper
  10. field — for sport
  11. stem — to come from
  12. row — to paddle
  13. clip — a video
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — of water
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. clip — to cut
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. spring — a coil
  21. content — the amount
  22. bay — a horse colour
  23. field — a subject
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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