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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: straw · saw · face · chest · hand · pit · stem · clip

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. pit — a hole
  3. clip — for paper
  4. saw — the tool
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. face — part of the head
  10. face — to confront
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. pit — in a race
  13. hand — help
  14. clip — to cut
  15. hand — in cards
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. saw — the tool
  18. face — to point toward
  19. chest — a box
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. stem — to come from

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