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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. chip — for betting
  3. swing — to play on
  4. spell — letters
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cold — not warm
  7. spell — magic
  8. track — a song
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. swing — music
  11. spell — a short time
  12. march — the month
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. track — a path
  16. tear — to rip
  17. track — to keep track
  18. march — music
  19. march — the month
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. tear — from crying
  22. swing — in golf
  23. chip — to eat
  24. cold — an illness

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