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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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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: cold · fork · snap · rush · march · stick · clip · stem

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. clip — to cut
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. march — the month
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. cold — an illness
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. march — music
  11. clip — a video
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. rush — hurry
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. stem — to come from
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. march — the month
  19. fork — in a road
  20. snap — to click
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. cold — not warm

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