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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: stem · bear · snap · pitch · fan · spring · clip · bat

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. bear — the animal
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. spring — of water
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. snap — to click
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. spring — the season
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — the animal
  14. stem — to come from
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pitch — completely
  17. clip — for paper
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. bear — the animal
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. clip — a video

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