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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — an injury
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. root — the cause
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. stand — to bear
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. shower — rain
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. prune — to trim
  16. shower — to wash
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. root — of a plant
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. cold — the Cold War

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