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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. cold — not warm
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — an illness
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. prune — to trim
  10. track — a song
  11. track — a path
  12. content — the amount
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. track — to keep track
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury

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