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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. squash — the sport
  7. stem — to come from
  8. cell — in biology
  9. scale — size or range
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. scale — in music
  12. board — a committee
  13. squash — to crush
  14. field — a subject
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. board — to get on
  17. cold — not warm
  18. last — finally
  19. field — farmland
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. field — for sport
  22. last — to go on
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. stem — of a plant

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