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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. stem — to come from
  3. track — a path
  4. spring — a coil
  5. perch — the fish
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. craft — boats
  10. pop — music
  11. track — a song
  12. pop — to visit
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. pop — soda
  15. file — a document
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a tool
  19. track — to keep track
  20. spring — the season
  21. spring — of water
  22. bore — to drill
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. craft — a skill

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