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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. perch — the fish
  3. lean — to bend
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. land — a country
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. cell — a phone
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. bat — the animal
  12. stem — to come from
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. land — ground
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. branch — a division
  18. land — to come down
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. cell — in biology
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. bat — for baseball

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