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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. stock — shares
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. tear — from crying
  6. stock — goods
  7. hand — help
  8. snap — to click
  9. hand — in cards
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. dip — to sink
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bat — the animal

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