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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. net — in sport
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. hand — in cards
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. cell — in biology
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. land — a country
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. net — for catching
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — ground
  21. cell — a phone
  22. degree — from a university
  23. hand — help
  24. net — after costs

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