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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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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: fine · stem · shower · cold · fork · present · clip · rest

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. fine — all right
  3. present — a gift
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fine — high quality
  6. rest — a break
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. rest — what's left
  9. rest — what's left
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. clip — a video
  12. present — there
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. clip — to cut
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. fork — in a road
  17. shower — to wash
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. clip — for paper
  20. shower — rain
  21. cold — an illness
  22. stem — to come from
  23. present — the time now
  24. fork — a garden tool

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