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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.

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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: band · prune · clip · stem · degree · chest · stand · object

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. band — a ring
  3. object — a thing
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. stem — to come from
  10. chest — of your body
  11. degree — from a university
  12. band — a music group
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. stand — to bear
  15. prune — to trim
  16. degree — an amount
  17. chest — a box
  18. degree — temperature
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. prune — to trim
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. chest — of your body
  23. clip — a video
  24. object — an aim

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