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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. tube — the underground
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. stem — to come from
  5. root — the cause
  6. root — of a word
  7. court — of a king
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. race — humankind
  10. hand — in cards
  11. race — a contest
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. court — of law
  14. race — the arms race
  15. tube — a container
  16. root — of a plant
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. hand — help

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