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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 120 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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. bore — to tire
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. stem — to come from
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. root — of a plant
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. pit — a hole
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bass — low music
  12. bore — to drill
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. root — of a word
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pit — in a race
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. root — the cause
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. stem — a stem cell

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