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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 bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — in traffic
  2. spell — magic
  3. branch — a division
  4. rule — government
  5. capital — a city
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. cold — not warm
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. rule — a law
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chair — a leader
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. spell — letters
  15. capital — money
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. stem — to come from
  22. cold — an illness
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. spell — a short time

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