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

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cold — not warm
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. face — to confront
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. chest — a box
  8. face — part of the head
  9. prune — to trim
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. chest — of your body
  17. face — to point toward
  18. cold — an illness

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