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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. stem — to come from
  4. file — a tool
  5. hand — in cards
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — a leader
  8. hand — help
  9. root — the cause
  10. rash — hasty
  11. bulb — for light
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. root — of a word
  15. file — a document
  16. bulb — for light
  17. root — of a plant
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. rash — a series
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. file — a line of people
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. chair — to sit on

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