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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. cell — a phone
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. spring — a coil
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. file — a line of people
  8. content — the amount
  9. rash — hasty
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — not warm
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. file — a document
  15. kick — in football
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spring — the season
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rash — a series
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. spring — of water
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. file — a tool

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