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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. scale — size or range
  6. spring — of water
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. squash — the sport
  14. face — to confront
  15. bat — the animal
  16. spring — a coil
  17. squash — to crush
  18. face — part of the head
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. spring — the season
  21. stem — to come from
  22. face — to point toward
  23. scale — in music
  24. cabinet — ministers

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