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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. cell — a phone
  2. stem — to come from
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. bound — obliged
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. cell — in biology
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. bound — tied together
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. craft — boats
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bound — certain
  19. craft — a skill
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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