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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. last — final
  5. march — the month
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. last — finally
  8. cold — not warm
  9. march — music
  10. land — a country
  11. stem — to come from
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. last — to go on
  16. land — to come down
  17. cold — an illness
  18. land — ground

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