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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. stem — to come from
  3. rush — hurry
  4. fine — all right
  5. present — there
  6. fine — high quality
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — a match
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. present — the time now
  15. present — a gift
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. game — wild animals

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