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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. kid — child
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. stem — to come from
  5. cap — a hat
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. row — a line
  8. row — to paddle
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cold — an illness
  13. rock — a stone
  14. cap — a lid
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — to tease
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. cap — of ice

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