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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: clip · wound · kick · drill · ground · stem · land · toast

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. ground — crushed
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. clip — a video
  5. toast — bread
  6. wound — an injury
  7. drill — army training
  8. clip — to cut
  9. land — to come down
  10. drill — the tool
  11. ground — the earth
  12. land — ground
  13. ground — a position
  14. stem — to come from
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. wound — an injury
  21. clip — for paper
  22. drill — a practice
  23. land — a country
  24. kick — in football

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