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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. can — to be able to
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. shower — to wash
  5. hand — in cards
  6. can — a tin
  7. shower — rain
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. degree — from a university
  10. cell — a phone
  11. degree — an amount
  12. hand — help
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. content — happy
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. content — the amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. jam — to spread on bread
  22. can — a tin
  23. cell — in biology
  24. stem — a stem cell

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