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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: clip · saw · stem · cold · staff · squash · sharp · stand

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — employees
  3. squash — the sport
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. cold — not warm
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — an illness
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. squash — to crush
  17. stem — to come from
  18. stand — to bear
  19. saw — the tool
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. sharp — clever
  23. saw — the tool
  24. staff — a stick

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