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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. bound — certain
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. content — happy
  5. stem — to come from
  6. content — the amount
  7. bound — obliged
  8. hand — in cards
  9. craft — boats
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bat — the animal
  13. hand — help
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. bound — tied together
  18. craft — a skill
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pitcher — a jug

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