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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 116 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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. file — a tool
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. file — a line of people
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. file — a document
  8. pit — in a race
  9. spring — a coil
  10. stem — to come from
  11. pit — a hole
  12. spring — of water
  13. capital — a city
  14. wind — moving air
  15. spring — the season
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. stem — a stem cell

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