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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. net — after costs
  3. race — the arms race
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. stem — to come from
  6. net — in sport
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. capital — a city
  11. branch — a division
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. capital — money
  14. race — humankind
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. bear — the animal
  17. field — farmland
  18. net — for catching
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. race — a contest
  21. bear — the animal
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. bear — to put up with

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