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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. last — final
  3. pop — to visit
  4. fall — the season
  5. game — wild animals
  6. stem — to come from
  7. fall — to drop
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cap — a lid
  11. last — to go on
  12. cap — a hat
  13. game — a match
  14. last — finally
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. pop — music
  18. cap — of ice

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