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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pop — music
  5. game — a match
  6. charge — electricity
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. kid — to tease
  9. charge — in control
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. stem — to come from
  12. root — of a word
  13. pop — soda
  14. root — the cause
  15. wax — to grow
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. root — of a plant
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. kid — child
  20. pop — to visit
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. charge — a price

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