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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. face — to point toward
  4. stem — to come from
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. prune — to trim
  7. chest — a box
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chair — a leader
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. ball — a dance
  14. face — to confront
  15. prune — to trim
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. chest — of your body
  18. ball — a great time
  19. face — part of the head
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. cold — the Cold War

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