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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. chip — for betting
  4. object — to protest
  5. spring — the season
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. row — to paddle
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. row — a line
  11. spring — of water
  12. object — an aim
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. kid — to tease
  15. kid — child
  16. chip — to eat
  17. fall — the season
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. stem — to come from
  20. fall — to drop
  21. spring — a coil
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. object — a thing
  24. straw — dry grass

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