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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 124 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. ball — a great time
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — rain
  6. cap — a lid
  7. date — the fruit
  8. root — the cause
  9. spell — magic
  10. shower — to wash
  11. cap — a hat
  12. cap — of ice
  13. spell — a short time
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. root — of a word
  18. cold — an illness
  19. ball — a dance
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. root — of a plant
  24. stem — to come from

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