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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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. stem — to come from
  6. net — in sport
  7. net — after costs
  8. stock — goods
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. present — a gift
  12. net — for catching
  13. file — a document
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. stock — shares
  18. present — there
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cold — an illness
  23. present — the time now
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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