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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: last · arm · stem · clip · cue · row · shower · pound

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cue — a hint
  3. cue — for pool
  4. row — a line
  5. clip — a video
  6. shower — rain
  7. cue — a signal
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. clip — to cut
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. clip — for paper
  12. pound — a weight
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. last — finally
  17. shower — to wash
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. stem — to come from
  24. last — to go on

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