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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cold — not warm
  8. board — a committee
  9. net — for catching
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. capital — a city
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. race — the arms race
  14. cold — an illness
  15. net — in sport
  16. capital — money
  17. race — a contest
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. race — humankind
  20. stem — to come from
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. board — to get on
  23. net — after costs
  24. bat — in an idiom

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