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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: mine · stem · clip · rash · cold · row · season · present

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. rash — hasty
  3. present — a gift
  4. row — a line
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. season — of the year
  10. row — to paddle
  11. rash — a series
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. season — in sport
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. clip — for paper
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. mine — for digging
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. clip — a video
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — to come from
  24. present — the time now

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