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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 120 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. cold — not warm
  5. row — to paddle
  6. fine — high quality
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. wound — an injury
  9. stem — to come from
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. fork — in a road
  15. cold — an illness
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — ground
  18. row — a line
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. fine — all right
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. land — a country
  23. mine — for digging
  24. mine — an explosive

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