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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. root — of a word
  4. stem — to come from
  5. content — happy
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. ground — crushed
  12. bat — the animal
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. ground — a position
  15. root — of a plant
  16. capital — money
  17. root — the cause
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. capital — a city
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. ground — the earth
  22. pound — a weight
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

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