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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. prune — to trim
  3. file — a document
  4. object — to protest
  5. game — wild animals
  6. saw — the tool
  7. file — a tool
  8. bound — obliged
  9. wind — moving air
  10. game — a match
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. prune — to trim
  13. file — a line of people
  14. bound — certain
  15. wind — moving air
  16. saw — the tool
  17. object — an aim
  18. bound — tied together
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. object — a thing

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