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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — a stick
  3. race — humankind
  4. kid — child
  5. race — the arms race
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. shower — to wash
  8. stem — to come from
  9. prune — to trim
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. kid — to tease
  12. shower — rain
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — to trim
  21. bark — to shout
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. staff — employees
  24. race — a contest

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