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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 116 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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. spell — a short time
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. stock — shares
  7. land — a country
  8. land — to come down
  9. capital — money
  10. land — ground
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. capital — a city
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. spell — letters
  16. stock — goods
  17. plane — a tool
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. spell — magic
  24. plane — in geometry

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