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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. root — of a word
  3. field — a subject
  4. fine — all right
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. file — a line of people
  7. field — farmland
  8. march — music
  9. stem — to come from
  10. root — of a plant
  11. file — a tool
  12. march — the month
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. lean — thin
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wax — to grow
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. march — the month
  21. fine — high quality
  22. root — the cause
  23. file — a document
  24. field — for sport

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